THE   REMINISCENCES   OF   CARL   SCHURZ 


UNIVERSITY 


THE 

REMINISCENCES 

O  F 

CARL    SCHURZ 

VOLUME    ONE 
1829-1852 


ILLUSTRATED  WITH  PORTRAITS  AND 
ORIGINAL  DRAWINGS 


NEW     YORK 

THE     McCLURE     COMPANY 

MCMVII 


33^ 


VN 


Copyright,  1907,  by  The  McClure  Company 


Published,  October,  1907 


H^SSE 


Copyright,  1905,  1906,  by  The  S.  S.  McClure  Company 
Copyright  1905,  1906,  by  Carl  Schurz 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


FACINO 
PAGE 


Carl  Schurz  in  1906 Frontispiece 

Heribert  Jussen  and  Frau  Jussen 12 

Christian  Schurz,  Father  of  Carl  Schurz — Born  1796,  Died  1876    ...  22 

Mother  of  Schurz — Born  1798,  Died  1877 24 

University  at  Bonn  and  Rathaus  at  Bonn 92 

Prof.  Gottfried  Kinkel 98 

Frederick  William  III 104 

Frederick  William  IV  and  Loui3  Philippe 118 

The  Revolution  in  Berlin,  1848 122 

Carl  Schurz  at  Nineteen .  128 

Karl  Marx 170 

Carl  Schurz  as  a  Student 196 

Frederich  Tiedemann  and  Hensel 204 

"A  Prussian  Officer,  under  a  Flag  of  Truce,  with  a  Summons  to  Surrender"  212 

Gottfried  Kinkel  in  Chains 246 

Rachel — From  the  painting  by  Edouard  Dubufe .  278 

Kruger,  Innkeeper  at  Spandau  and  Herr  Leddihn 286 

Kinkel 's  Escape 310 

A  Mythical  Portrait  of  Schurz 338 

Gottfried  Kinkel  and  Carl  Schurz 374 

Carl  Schurz  and  His  Wife 402 


162305 


THE   REMINISCENCES   OF   CARL    SCHURZ 


ft 


CARL    SCHURZ    IN    1906 


CHAPTER  I 

MANY  years  ago  I  began  at  the  desire  of  my  children  to 
write  down  what  follows.  In  the  domestic  circle,  partly  from 
myself  and  partly  from  relatives  and  old  friends,  they  had 
heard  much  about  the  surroundings  and  conditions  in  which  I 
had  grown  up,  as  well  as  about  the  strange  and  stirring  adven- 
tures of  my  youth,  and  they  asked  me  to  put  that  which  they 
had  heard,  and  as  much  more  of  the  same  kind  as  I  could  give 
them,  into  the  shape  of  a  connected  narrative  which  they  might 
keep  as  a  family  memorial.  This  I  did,  without  originally  con- 
templating a  general  publication. 

The  circumstance  that  this  narrative  was  first  intended 
only  for  a  small  number  of  persons  who  might  be  assumed  to 
take  a  special  interest  in  everything  concerning  the  subject, 
may  explain  the  breadth  and  copiousness  of  detail  in  the 
descriptions  of  situations  and  events,  which  perhaps  will  occa- 
sionally try  the  reader's  patience.  To  soften  his  judgment  he 
should  imagine  an  old  man  telling  the  story  of  his  life  to  a 
circle  of  intimates  who  constantly  interrupt  him  with  questions 
about  this  and  that  of  which  they  wish  to  know  more,  thus 
forcing  him  to  expand  his  tale. 

However,  I  have  to  confess  also  that  while  I  was  writing, 
the  charm  of  story-telling,  the  joy  of  literary  production,  came 
over  me,  and  no  doubt  seduced  me  into  diffusenesses  which  I 
must  ask  the  kind  reader  to  pardon. 

Until  recently  it  was  my  intent  not  to  publish  these  remi- 
niscences during  my  lifetime,  but  to  leave  it  to  my  children  to 

[3] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
decide  after  my  death  how  much  of  them  should  be  given  to  the 
general  reading  public.  It  appeared  to  me  that  such  a  publi- 
cation during  the  lifetime  of  the  author  might  easily  acquire 
the  character  of  self-advertisement,  especially  in  the  case  of  a 
man  who  had  been  active  in  public  life,  and  might,  perhaps, 
continue  to  be  so.  But  after  ample  consultation  with  judicious 
friends  I  have  concluded  that  in  consideration  of  my  advanced 
age  and  of  my  retirement,  which  manifestly  exclude  all  political 
ambition,  I  could  not  be  suspected  of  such  designs. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  in  telling  the  story  of 
my  youth  I  had  to  depend  largely  upon  memory.  I  am  well 
aware  that  memory  not  seldom  plays  treacherous  pranks  with 
us  in  making  us  believe  that  we  have  actually  witnessed  things 
which  we  have  only  heard  spoken  of,  or  which  have  only  vividly 
occupied  our  imagination.  Of  this  I  have  myself  had  some 
strange  experiences.  I  have  therefore  been  careful  not  to  trust 
my  own  recollections  too  much,  but,  whenever  possible,  to  com- 
pare them  with  the  recollections  of  relatives  or  friends,  and  to 
consult  old  letters  and  contemporary  publications  concerning 
the  occurrences  to  be  described.  It  may  be  indeed  that  in 
spite  of  such  precautions  some  errors  have  slipped  into  my 
narrative,  but  I  venture  to  hope  that  they  are  few  and  not 
important. 

When  I  began  to  write  these  reminiscences  of  my  youth, 
I  attempted  to  do  so  in  English;  but  as  I  proceeded  I  became 
conscious  of  not  being  myself  satisfied  with  the  work;  and  it 
occurred  to  me  that  I  might  describe  things  that  happened  in 
Germany,  among  Germans,  and  under  German  conditions, 
with  greater  ease,  freedom,  and  fullness  of  expression  if  I 
used  the  German  language  as  a  medium.  I  did  so,  and  thus 
this  story  of  my  youth  was  originally  written  in  German.  It 
was  translated  by  my  friend,  Mrs.  Eleonora  Kinnicutt,  and  I 

[4] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
cannot  too  strongly  express  my  obligation  to  her,  who  not  only 
did  for  me  the  more  or  less  dry  work  of  turning  German 
phrases  into  English,  but  was  in  a  large  sense  my  coworker, 
aiding  me  throughout  with  most  valuable  counsel  as  to  the  tone 
of  the  narrative,  and  as  to  passages  to  be  shortened  or  struck 
out,  and  others  to  be  more  amply  elaborated. 

I  was  born  in  a  castle.  This,  however,  does  not  mean  that 
I  am  of  aristocratic  ancestry.  My  father  was,  at  the  time 
of  my  birth,  a  schoolmaster  in  Liblar,  a  village  of  about  eight 
hundred  inhabitants,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine,  three 
hours'  walk  from  Cologne.  His  native  place  was  Duisdorf, 
near  Bonn.  Losing  his  parents  in  early  childhood,  he  was 
adopted  into  the  home  of  his  grandfather,  a  man  belonging  to 
the  peasant  class,  who  possessed  a  small  holding  of  land  upon 
which  he  raised  some  grain,  potatoes  and  a  little  wine.  Thus 
my  father  grew  up  a  true  peasant  boy. 

At  the  period  of  his  birth,  in  1797,  the  left  bank  of  the 
Rhine  was  in  the  possession  of  the  French  Republic.  The  years 
of  my  father's  youth  thus  fell  in  what  the  Rhine  folk  called 
"  The  French  Time,"  and  later  in  life  he  had  much  to  tell  me 
of  those  stirring  days;  how  he  had  seen  the  great  Napoleon, 
before  the  Russian  campaign,  passing  in  review  a  body  of 
troops  in  the  neighborhood  of  Bonn;  how,  in  the  autumn  of 
1813,  the  French  army,  after  the  battle  of  Leipzig,  defeated 
and  shattered,  had  come  back  to  the  Rhine ;  how,  while  standing 
in  the  market-place  at  Bonn,  he  had  seen  General  Sebastiani 
dash  out  of  his  headquarters  in  the  "  Hotel  Zum  Stern,"  leap 
upon  his  horse  and  gallop  around  with  his  staff,  the  trumpeters 
sounding  the  alarm  and  the  drums  beating  the  long  roll,  be- 
cause of  the  news  that  a  band  of  Cossacks  had  crossed  the  Rhine 
between  Bonn  and  Coblenz ;  how  the  French  troops,  stationed 

[5] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
in  Bonn,  had  hurriedly  formed  and  marched  off  in  the  direction 
of  France,  many  disabled  soldiers  dropping  out  of  the  columns ; 
how,  one  morning,  several  bands  of  Cossacks,  dirty,  long- 
bearded  fellows,  on  small,  shaggy  ponies,  had  swarmed  over  the 
country,  and  chased  the  French  stragglers,  killing  many  of 
them;  how  they  had  also  forced  themselves  into  the  houses, 
stealing  everything  that  took  their  fancy;  and  how,  when 
the  Cossacks  had  disappeared,  the  peasants  hid  their  few 
remaining  possessions  in  the  woods,  to  save  them  from  the 
oncoming  Russians. 

Soon  after,  the  troops  belonging  to  the  allied  powers 
marched  through  the  country,  on  their  way  into  France  to  fight 
the  campaign  of  1814,  which  ended  in  the  occupation  of  Paris 
and  Napoleon's  exile  to  the  Island  of  Elba.  A  short  period  of 
apparent  peace  followed;  but  when  Napoleon,  in  1815,  sud- 
denly returned  from  Elba  and  again  seized  the  government  of 
France,  the  Prussians  levied  fresh  troops  on  the  Rhine;  all 
able-bodied  young  men  were  obliged  to  enlist;  and  so  my 
father,  who  was  then  eighteen  years  of  age,  joined  an  infantry 
regiment  and  marched  off  to  the  seat  of  war  in  Belgium.  The 
troops  were  drilled  on  the  way  thither  in  the  manual  of  arms 
and  in  the  most  necessary  evolutions  to  fit  them  for  immediate 
service.  My  father's  regiment  passed  over  the  field  of  Waterloo 
a  few  days  after  the  battle,  on  its  way  to  a  small  French  for- 
tress which  they  were  to  besiege,  but  which  soon  capitulfted 
without  bloodshed.  Later  he  was  transferred  to  the  artillery 
and  raised  to  the  dignity  of  a  corporal,  an  honor  which  grati- 
fied not  a  little  his  youthful  ambition.  He  regretted  never  to 
have  been  in  actual  combat,  and  later  in  life,  when  his  contem- 
poraries told  the  stories  of  their  deeds  and  dangers,  he  was 
always  obliged  to  admit,  with  reluctance,  the  harmless  charac- 
ter of  his  own  war  experiences. 

[6] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
Upon  his  discharge  from  military  service  my  father 
entered,  as  a  pupil,  a  teachers'  seminary  at  Briihl,  and  was 
soon  appointed  schoolmaster  at  Liblar.  He  had  received  a  little 
instruction  in  music  at  the  seminary  and  had  learned  to  play 
the  flute.  This  enabled  him  to  teach  simple  songs  to  the  school 
children  and  to  form  a  glee  club,  composed  of  the  youths  and 
maidens  of  the  village.  In  this  glee  club  he  made  the  acquaint- 
ance of  my  mother,  Marianna  Jussen,  whom  he  married  in 
1827.  My  mother  was  the  daughter  of  a  tenant-farmer,  Heri- 
bert  Jussen,  who  occupied  part  of  a  seignorial  castle  called 
"  Die  Gracht,"  near  Liblar.  My  father  and  mother  lived,  for 
several  years  after  their  marriage,  with  my  grandparents ;  and 
so  it  happened  that  I,  their  firstborn,  came  into  the  world  on 
March  2,  1829,  in  a  castle. 

This  castle,  the  ancestral  seat  of  Count  Wolf  Metter- 
nich,  was  not  very  old — if  I  remember  rightly  it  was  built 
between  1650  and  1700 — a  large  compound  of  buildings  un- 
der one  roof;  surrounding  on  three  sides  a  spacious  courtyard; 
tall  towers  with  pointed  roofs,  and  large  iron  weather  vanes 
at  the  corners,  that  squeaked  when  moved  by  the  wind;  a  broad 
moat,  always  filled  with  water,  encircling  the  whole;  spanned 
by  a  drawbridge,  which  led  through  a  narrow  arched  gateway 
into  the  court.  In  the  wall  above  the  massive  gate,  which  was 
studded  with  big-headed  nails,  there  was  a  shield  bearing  the 
count's  coat-of-arms,  and  an  inscription,  which  I  puzzled  out 
as  soon  as  I  could  read,  and  which  has  remained  in  my  memory 
through  all  the  vicissitudes  of  my  life.  It  read: 

"  In  the  old  days  in  Hessenland, 
I  was  called  the  Wolf  of  Gutenberg; 
Now,  by  the  Grace  of  God, 
I  am  Count  Wolf  Metternich  of  the  Gracht." 

m 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
This  large  group  of  buildings  contained  the  dwelling  of 
the  tenant  and  his  retainers,  the  steward's  officers  necessary  for 
the  management  of  the  estate,  the  granaries  and  the  stables. 
On  the  fourth  side  of  the  court  a  second  bridge  spanned  a 
branch  of  the  moat  and  led  to  a  small  but  more  pretentious 
building,  also  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  water.  This  was  the 
residence  occupied  by  Count  Metternich  and  his  family  during 
the  summer  and  the  shooting  seasons.  It  also  had  its  tall  towers 
and  spreading  wings,  containing  a  chapel  and  household  service 
rooms.  It  was  situated  on  somewhat  higher  ground,  and  seemed 
to  dominate  the  other  buildings.  This  residence,  standing  apart, 
was  called  "  The  House."  A  third  drawbridge  united  "  The 
House  "  with  a  park  of  about  sixty  acres,  of  which  one-half 
resembled  the  Versailles  gardens,  with  its  straight  pebble  walks, 
labyrinths  and  trimmed  hedges,  and  here  and  there  statues  of 
Greek  gods  and  nymphs,  fountains  and  ponds.  Large  orange 
trees,  in  green  tubs,  stood,  like  sentinels,  in  rows  along  the 
walks. 

The  grounds  were  enlivened  by  flocks  of  guinea  hens  and 
stately  moving  peacocks.  Another  part  of  the  grounds  was 
laid  out  like  an  English  park,  with  lawns,  ponds  and  groups 
of  tall  trees  and  shrubbery,  and  here  and  there  a  small  summer 
house  or  a  pavilion.  The  estate  as  a  whole  was  called  by  the 
people  "Die  Burg,"  and  my  grandfather  was  known  in  the 
village  and  surrounding  country  as  "  Der  Burghalfen."  "  Hal- 
fen  "  was  the  name  given  originally  to  the  farmer-tenants  who 
went  halves  with  the  lord  of  the  estate  in  the  proceeds  of  the 
crops.  This  has  in  some  parts  of  the  Rhineland  given  way  to 
the  payment  of  a  fixed  rent  to  the  landlord,  but  the  old  name 
"  Half  en  "  remains. 

My  grandfather,  the  Burghalfen,  had,  at  the  time  of  my 
first  recollection,  attained  his  sixtieth  year.  He  was  a  man  of 

[8] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
huge  proportions:  over  six  feet  in  height,  with  powerful  chest 
and  shoulders,  and  massive  features  to  correspond ;  square  chin ; 
a  firm  mouth  and  full  lips ;  large  straight  nose ;  fiery  dark  eyes 
with  bushy  eyebrows;  a  broad  forehead,  shadowed  with  curly 
brown  hair.  His  strength  of  muscle  was  astounding.  Once,  at 
a  kirmess  festival,  when  several  other  half  en  were  his  guests, 
my  grandfather  accepted  a  challenge  to  lift  in  his  arms  the 
great  anvil  which  stood  in  the  blacksmith's  forge  on  the  other 
side  of  the  moat,  and  to  carry  it  over  the  drawbridge,  through 
the  gate,  into  the  house,  up  the  stairs  to  the  loft,  and  back  again 
to  the  forge.  I  can  see  him  now,  striding  along,  up  and  down 
the  creaking  stairs,  with  the  heavy  block  of  iron  in  his  arms, 
as  though  he  were  carrying  a  little  child. 

Wonderful  were  the  stories  told  about  him:  that  once  a 
mad  bull  which  had  broken  loose  from  the  barn  into  the  court- 
yard and  driven  all  the  stablemen  under  cover,  was  confronted 
by  him,  single-handed,  and  felled  to  the  ground  with  one  blow 
of  a  hammer;  and  that  when  heavily  laden  wagons  were  stuck 
in  the  ruts  of  bad  country  roads  he  would  lift  them  up  and  out 
with  his  shoulders;  and  various  other  similar  feats.  It  is  not 
unlikely  that  such  tales,  as  they  passed  from  mouth  to  mouth, 
may  have  gone  a  little  beyond  the  boundary  line  of  fact,  and 
swelled  into  legendary  grandeur;  but  they  were  recounted  with 
every  assurance  of  authenticity ;  and  certain  it  is  that  the  Burg- 
half  en  was  the  strongest  man  of  his  day  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Liblar. 

His  education  had  been  elementary  only.  He  could  read 
and  write,  though  with  books  he  had  little  concern.  But  he 
was  a  man  of  great  authority  with  the  people.  From  the  vil- 
lage and  surrounding  country  men  and*  women  came  to  seek 
the  Burghalf en's  advice,  and  to  lay  their  troubles  before  him ; 
and  whenever  report  reached  him  of  a  quarrel  among  neighbors, 

[9] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
or  between  husband  and  wife,  he  would  start  forth  with  a 
stout  stick  in  his  hand  for  the  seat  of  war.  He  would  hear  the 
case  both  for  plaintiff  and  defendant,  and  after  making  up 
his  mind  which  side  was  in  the  wrong  he  would  pronounce 
judgment  and  deal  out  the  punishment  on  the  spot,  which  not 
seldom  consisted  in  a  sound  thrashing.  Against  his  verdict 
and  its  immediate  execution — a  somewhat  patriarchal  form 
of  judgment — no  one  ever  ventured  to  protest. 

When  the  harvest-time  came  and  the  Burghalfen  needed 
laborers  for  his  fields,  he  had  only  to  walk  through  the  village 
street,  and  old  and  young  flocked  to  his  service  and  worked 
for  him  with  zeal  until  the  harvest  was  safely  garnered.  But 
the  spirit  of  helpfulness  was  mutual;  whoever  was  in  distress 
would  say,  "  I  will  go  to  the  Burghalfen,"  and  he  would  do  so, 
confident  that  no  sacrifice  would  be  too  great,  no  service  too 
burdensome  to  him,  when  the  welfare  of  others  was  concerned. 
"  Live  and  let  live  "  was  his  principle  and  his  habit.  Every 
parish  in  the  Rhineland  had  its  yearly  kirmess,  with  feasting, 
drinking,  games  and  dances.  These  festivals  lasted  always  three 
days,  and  were  not  infrequently  carried  over  into  a  fourth.  At 
such  times  relatives  and  friends  visited  one  another,  bringing 
along  their  families ;  so  that  for  those  who  had  many  brothers, 
sisters,  cousins  and  intimate  friends,  opportunities  for  enjoy- 
ment were  not  wanting  throughout  the  summer.  At  every  kir- 
mess gathering  that  he  visited  the  Burghalfen  was  the  central 
figure.  He  was  pleasure-loving — perhaps  a  little  too  much  for 
his  own  good.  There  were  few  whom  he  could  not  "  drink  under 
the  table  " ;  and  he  was  a  terrible  fighter,  too,  when  it  came  to 
blows;  but  fortunately  this  did  not  happen  often,  for  he  was 
a  man  of  peace  by  nature.  I  have  been  told  that  when  under 
strong  provocation  he  would,  in  his  wrath,  seize  a  chair,  dash  it 
to  pieces  with  a  mighty  foot  thrust,  grasp  one  of  the  legs  for  a 

[10] 


\ 


^ 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
weapon,  and,  like  Samson  with  the  ass's  jawbone,  charge  upon 
and  drive  the  Philistines  irresistibly  before  him. 

It  was  the  custom  in  each  parish  to  hold  an  annual "  Schiitz- 
enfest,"  or  bird-shooting.  An  imitation  bird,  made  of  a  block 
of  wood,  strengthened  with  iron  bands  and  plates,  was  fastened 
to  a  tall  pole,  from  sixty  to  eighty  feet  or  more  from  the  ground. 
The  shooting  was  done  with  rifles,  and  he  who  brought  down 
the  last  bit  of  the  wooden  bird  won  the  prize  and  was  crowned 
king.  This  custom  still  exists  to-day  in  many  parts  of  Ger- 
many. If,  upon  such  occasions,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Liblar, 
the  Burghalfen  failed  to  appear,  the  festival  was  incomplete; 
but  he  seldom  did  fail.  With  his  big  rifle  he  was  almost  always 
among  the  first  on  the  spot.  This  rifle,  called  "  der  Ferkel- 
stecher  "  (the  pigsticker) ,  was  a  most  remarkable  and  formida- 
ble weapon.  Why  it  was  so  called  I  do  not  remember.  It  dis- 
charged a  good  handful  of  powder  and  a  ball  weighing  fully 
eight  ounces,  and  was  so  heavy  that  the  strongest  man  could 
not  hold  it  horizontally  from  his  shoulder  without  support. 
Even  my  grandfather  always  placed  one  of  his  tallest  yeomen 
behind  him  to  grasp  the  weapon  upon  its  heavy  recoil.  Innu- 
merable were  the  birds  brought  down  with  this  formidable  in- 
strument. Every  victory  was  followed  by  a  feast  at  the  tavern, 
which  not  only  swept  away  all  the  prize-money,  but  a  goodly 
sum  besides ;  and  not  seldom  did  the  victor  return  home  with  a 
hot  and  heavy  head. 

But  the  Burghalfen  was  also  a  thorough  husbandman; 
intelligent,  energetic  and  indefatigable.  Bright  and  early  in 
the  morning  he  was  up  and  joined  his  laborers  in  the  field,  not 
only  giving  directions,  but  when  occasion  required  setting  a 
good  example  by  doing  himself  the  most  arduous  task.  I  still 
see  him  before  me  as,  according  to  custom,  he  drove  the  first 
harvest  load  into  the  barn,  whip  in  hand,  sitting  on  one  of  the 

[11] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
four  gayly  decorated  horses,  which  were  harnessed  tandem  fash- 
ion to  the  wagon ;  and  I  have  often  heard  that  his  counsel  about 
questions  of  husbandry  was   frequently  sought  and  highly 
esteemed  by  his  fellow- farmers. 

In  his  own  home,  of  course,  he  was  king,  but  a  king  who 
was  loved  as  well  as  obeyed,  and  whose  very  faults  were  ac- 
cepted by  others  as  a  kind  of  necessity  of  nature  which  had  to 
be  submitted  to,  and  would  suffer  no  change. 

At  his  side,  in  remarkable  contrast,  stood  my  grandmother, 
a  small,  slender  woman,  with  a  thin,  once  pretty  face;  delicate, 
devout  and  domestic;  always  active  and  full  of  cares.  The 
household  which  she  conducted  was,  indeed,  sufficiently  large 
and  onerous  to  allow  her  but  little  rest.  At  dawn  of  day  in 
summer,  by  lamplight  in  winter,  she  was  busy  superintending 
the  preparation  of  breakfast  for  the  working  people  and  start- 
ing them  at  their  various  occupations.  They  numbered,  men 
and  girls,  over  twenty,  without  counting  the  day  laborers. 

The  "  Folk,"  as  they  were  called,  assembled  for  meals  in 
a  hall  on  the  ground  floor,  which  had  a  vaulted  ceiling  resting 
on  thick  stone  columns.  On  one  side  was  a  huge  hearth,  with  an 
open-mouthed  chimney;  large  pots  hung  over  the  fire  on  iron 
hooks  and  chains.  This  was  the  "  commons  "  of  the  house.  On 
the  other  side  of  the  hall  stood  a  long  table,  with  wooden 
benches,  at  which  the  folk  took  their  meals.  Before  sitting 
down — standing  with  their  backs  to  the  table — they  all  said  a 
prayer;  then  the  " meisterknecht,"  or  foreman,  struck  a  loud 
rap  with  the  handle  of  his  knife  on  the  table,  which  was  the 
signal  for  all  to  sit  down.  They  ate  their  soup  or  porridge  with 
wooden  spoons  out  of  big  wooden  bowls,  which  were  arranged 
along  the  center  of  the  table  within  easy  reach.  There  were  no 
individual  plates  or  platters;  meat  and  vegetables  were  served 
upon  long,  narrow  strips  of  board,  scoured  white.  The  house 

[12] 


THE         ' 

UNIVERSITY 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
provided  three-pronged  iron  forks;  for  cutting,  the  folk  used 
their  own  pocketknives.  The  foreman  dealt  out  the  black  bread 
in  large  chunks;  white  bread  was  given  only  on  festive  occa- 
sions. During  the  meal  not  a  word  was  spoken,  and  when  the 
foreman  laid  down  his  knife  it  was  the  signal  that  the  repast 
was  over.  It  goes  without  saying  that  he  always  allowed  the 
people  a  sufficiency  of  food.  They  arose,  again  turned  their 
backs  to  the  table,  repeated  a  prayer  and  separated,  each  to  his 
or  her  task. 

During  the  time  that  the  servants  were  taking  their  meal 
my  grandmother  busied  herself  with  the  help  of  a  scullery  maid 
at  the  big  fireplace,  preparing  breakfast  for  the  family.  On 
one  side  of  the  hall  a  few  steps  led  up  into  a  smaller,  though 
spacious,  room,  also  with  a  vaulted  ceiling.  A  long  table  stood 
in  the  middle,  surrounded  by  chairs,  of  which  several  were 
upholstered  in  leather  and  adorned  with  bright  copper  nails. 
A  wide  window,  with  a  strong  outward-curved  iron  grating, 
opened  into  the  courtyard  and  allowed  a  full  view  of  whatever 
took  place  there.  This  apartment  was  the  living-room  of  the 
family,  and  served  also  as  a  dining-room,  except  upon  great 
occasions,  when  the  feast  was  spread  in  "  The  Saal,"  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  servants'  hall.  This  living-room  was  my 
grandmother's  headquarters.  It  had  a  small  window,  cut 
through  the  wall  into  the  folk-hall,  for  the  purpose  of  enabling 
her  to  oversee  whatever  happened  there;  and  through  it  her 
voice  was  at  times  to  be  heard  instructing  or  reproving.  When 
the  autumn  and  winter  evenings  came  she  gathered  around  her 
the  maid  servants,  of  whom  there  were  a  dozen  or  more,  with 
their  spinning  wheels.  Then  the  flax  was  spun  which  supplied 
the  house  with  linen;  and  while  the  wheels  whirred  the  girls 
sang,  my  grandmother  encouraging  them  by  setting  the  tunes. 
The  men,  meanwhile,  came  in  from  the  stables  and  workshops 

[IS] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
and  seated  themselves  on  benches  around  the  great  hearth  in  the 
hall,  to  tell  stories  and  to  indulge  in  what  passed  with  them  for 
wit.  In  the  summer  evenings  they  sat  around  in  the  courtyard, 
or  leaned  upon  the  bridge-railing,  chatting  or  singing.  Two  or 
three  times  during  the  year,  in  accordance  with  ancient  custom, 
all  assembled  in  the  folk-hall  for  a  romp ;  blindman's-bufF  and 
other  games  were  played,  and  there  was  no  end  to  the  tumbling 
and  pulling,  shrieking  and  laughing,  until,  at  a  fixed  hour,  the 
foreman  stalked  in,  like  stern  fate,  and  sent  them  all  off  to  bed. 

Such  were  the  surroundings  in  which  I  first  became  aware 
of  existence,  and  in  which  the  earliest  years  of  my  childhood 
were  passed.  It  is  remarkable  how  memory  can  hark  back  to 
the  time  of  the  first  development  of  consciousness.  So  I  have 
still  before  me  a  picture  of  myself,  when  I  could  not  have  been 
much  more  than  two  years  of  age.  On  the  road,  bordered  with 
horse-chestnut  trees,  leading  from  the  castle  to  the  village, 
there  was  a  pit  enclosed  in  masonry,  in  which  the  count  kept 
some  wild  boars.  I  can. see  myself  distinctly,  a  small  child 
in  petticoats  and  a  little  white  bonnet  on  my  head,  sitting  upon 
the  wall,  looking  down  with  a  mixed  feeling  of  delight  and 
terror  upon  the  great  black  monsters,  with  their  terrible  white 
tusks.  As  I  sat  there,  an  old  man  with  shining  buttons  on  his 
coat  approached,  talked  with  the  woman  who  had  charge  of  me, 
and  gave  me  some  cake.  My  mother,  to  whom  in  later  life  I 
recalled  this,  told  me  that  the  man  wearing  the  castle  livery 
must  have  been  old  Bernhard,  the  count's  body-servant,  who 
died  when  I  was  in  my  third  year. 

Another  picture  I  see  before  me:  A  large  flock  of  sheep, 
with  the  lambs,  returning  home  from  the  pasture  in  the  dusk  of 
the  evening,  bleating  and  crowding  with  impatient  haste 
through  the  gateway  into  the  court.  Sitting  on  my  mother's 
arm,  I  watched  them;  the  old  shepherd  approaches  to  allow  me 

[14] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
to  touch  the  shining  little  shovel  on  the  end  of  his  long  staff, 
toward  which  I  had  stretched  out  my  hand;  but  the  old  man's 
grim  and  wrinkled  face  frightens  me;  I  shrink  back  and  cling 
closely  to  my  mother's  shoulder. 

With  special  pleasure  do  I  recall  the  great  cow  stable, 
built  like  a  church,  with  a  central  arched  nave  and  two  lower 
side  naves,  in  which  the  cows  stood — about  forty  in  number. 
My  mother,  who  interested  herself  in  the  work  of  the  dairy, 
took  me  with  her  sometimes  when  she  went  to  see  that  the  ani- 
mals were  properly  cared  for.  How  warm  it  was  there  of  a 
winter's  evening!  Sitting  on  a  bundle  of  hay  or  straw,  in  the 
dim  light  of  the  lantern,  suspended  from  the  high  arch  of  the 
central  nave,  I  used  to  listen  to  the  softly  murmuring  sounds 
of  the  kine  chewing  their  cud,  which  filled  the  great  space  with 
a  peculiar  sense  of  comfort,  and  to  the  chatter  and  the  songs  of 
"the  dairy  maids  as  they  busily  moved  to  and  fro,  calling  the 
cows  by  their  names. 

My  mother  told  me  later  that  when  I  was  between  three 
and  four  years  old  I  had  a  very  exciting  love  affair.  The 
count  had  a  daughter,  who  was  then  about  eighteen  or  nineteen, 
and  very  beautiful.  The  young  Countess  Marie,  when  she  met 
me  on  her  walks,  sometimes  stroked  my  red  cheeks  with  her 
hands,  as  young  ladies  do  now  and  then  with  very  little  boys. 
The  consequence  was  that  I  fell  ardently  in  love  with  her,  and 
declared  frankly  that  I  would  marry  her.  My  intentions  were 
quite  determined,  but  the  young  Countess  Marie  did  not  seem 
to  look  at  the  matter  as  seriously  as  I  did,  and  that  led  to  a 
catastrophe.  One  day  I  saw  her  standing  with  a  young  man  at 
one  of  the  windows  of  the  house,  busy  catching  carp  with  a  hook 
in  the  moat  of  the  castle.  A  furious  fit  of  jealousy  seized  me; 
I  demanded,  screaming,  that  the  young  man  should  leave  the 
adored  Countess  Marie  at  once,  in  default  of  which  I  insisted 

[15] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
that  someone  should  throw  him  into  the  water.  I  grew  still  more 
furious  when  the  young  gentleman  not  only  did  not  leave,  but 
even  seemed  to  be  laughing  at  me.  I  made  such  a  noise  that  the 
castle  folk  came  running  from  all  parts,  to  see  what  was  the 
matter.  I  told  them,  with  hot  tears ;  and  then  they  also  laughed, 
making  me  still  more  furious.  At  last  the  count's  good  old 
cook  hit  upon  a  successful  idea;  she  took  me  into  the  kitchen, 
where  she  gave  me  a  small  jar  of  quince  jelly  to  eat.  Quince 
jelly  was  then  to  me  an  entirely  new  form  of  human  happiness, 
and  it  had  a  remarkably  quieting  effect  upon  my  distressed 
feelings.  So  far  the  tale  my  mother  told  me;  and  I  will  con- 
fess that  quince  jelly  has  ever  since  remained  my  favorite 
sweet. 

"  The  Burg  "  had  also  its  terror  for  me;  it  was  the  head  of 
a  roe  buck,  with  black  antlers  and  very  large  eyes,  which 
adorned  the  wall  at  the  end  of  a  long  corridor.  I  do  not  know, 
and  probably  never  knew,  why  this  head  of  a  roe  buck  was  so 
terrible  to  me ;  but  certainly  it  was  so ;  and  when  I  had  to  pass 
it  I  ran  as  fast  as  my  little  legs  would  carry  me. 

I  can  still  hear  the  horn  of  Hermann,  the  count's  hunts- 
man, who,  on  fine  evenings,  sat  on  the  bridge-railing  and  played 
merry  tunes  that  reverberated  from  the  walls  and  the  towers 
of  the  castle.  This  huntsman  was  a  great  personage  in  my 
eyes,  for  on  festive  occasions  he,  arrayed  in  brilliant  uniform 
with  gold  lace,  a  hunting-knife  at  his  side,  and  a  waving  bunch 
of  feathers  on  his  hat,  accompanied  the  count.  He  came  to  a 
sad  end,  poor  Hermann!  One  day  he  was  found  in  the  forest, 
dead;  probably  shot  by  poachers.  This  was  the  first  tragic 
sensation  of  my  life.  We  children,  for  a  long  time  afterwards, 
would  point  to  this  man  or  that,  with  a  shuddering  suspicion 
that,  perhaps,  he  might  have  been  the  murderer  of  Hermann. 

I  must  have  been  a  little  over  four  years  old  when  my 

[16] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
parents  left  the  castle  to  establish  a  home  of  their  own  in  the 
village  of  Liblar.  The  village  consisted  of  one  street.  Mid- 
way on  an  elevation  stood  the  parish  church  with  its  pointed 
steeple  and  cross.  The  houses,  mostly  one-storied  and  very 
small,  were  of  whitewashed  plaster,  with  frames  and  beams  ex- 
posed, and  tiled  roofs.  There  were  perhaps  half  a  dozen  brick 
buildings  in  the  village,  belonging  to  the  count.  The  inhabitants 
of  Liblar,  small  farmers,  laborers,  mechanics  and  a  few  inn- 
or  shop-keepers,  took  an  especial  pride  in  their  village  because 
its  street  was  paved  with  cobblestones.  Notwithstanding  our 
house  had  two  stories,  it  was  very  small,  with  ceilings  so  low 
in  the  upper  story  that  my  grandfather  when  standing 
upright  almost  touched  them  with  his  head. 

Although  we  no  longer  lived  at  the  castle,  I  continued  to 
be  my  grandfather's  favorite,  and  he  wished  me  to  come  to 
him  as  often  as  possible.  My  mother  had  to  take  me  almost 
every  day  to  the  Burg,  and  I  accompanied  my  grandfather 
sometimes  even  at  his  work.  At  harvest  time,  when  he  took 
the  loaded  wagons  into  the  barn,  I  had  to  sit  with  him  in  the 
saddle.  In  the  late  autumn,  when  the  slaughtering  of  the  fat 
swine, — a  work  which  he  insisted  upon  performing  himself, — 
took  place,  the  honor  fell  to  me  of  carrying  the  big,  leathern 
knife-case,  the  bright  buckled  straps  of  which  were  wound 
around  my  neck  so  that  they  should  not  drag  along  the 
ground.  And  the  more  important  I  believed  myself  to  be  on 
such  occasions  the  greater  was  my  grandfather's  delight.  On 
rainy  days  he  lent  me  an  old  gun  with  a  flint  lock,  and  taught 
me  how  to  cock  and  snap  it  so  that  it  gave  out  sparks.  Then  I 
was  allowed  to  go  hunting  in  the  sitting-room  and  the  adjoining 
chambers,  and  to  shoot  as  many  deer  and  wild  birds  as  my 
imagination  could  scare  up.  This  would  amuse  me  for  hours; 
and  my  grandfather  then  took  me  on  his  knees  and  listened  to 

[17] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
the  wonderful  tales  about  the  game  I  had  bagged  and  the 
adventures  in  the  forest  and  field  I  had  encountered. 

Suddenly  a  terrible  misfortune  befell  the  family.  My 
grandfather  had  a  stroke  of  paralysis.  The  upper  part  of  his 
body  remained  sound,  but  he  could  no  longer  walk  or  stand. 
And  thus,  alas!  the  Burghalfen's  bustling  activity  came  to  a 
sudden  end ;  no  more  feats  of  strength ;  no  more  merry  rides  to 
the  bird-shooting  and  to  the  kirmess.  The  robust  man,  yester- 
day still  proud  of  his  vigor,  was  now  obliged  to  sit  still  from 
morning  until  night,  his  legs  swathed  in  flannel.  During  the 
daytime  his  great  armchair  stood  at  the  sitting-room  window 
with  the  outward-curved  grating,  so  that  he  might  overlook  the 
courtyard.  He  attempted  to  conduct  farm  affairs  in  this  way, 
but  he  soon  had  to  delegate  his  authority  to  a  younger  brother. 
And  now  the  suddenly  aged  man  did  not  know  what  to  do 
with  himself  nor  with  his  time.  The  Cologne  Gazette  was 
daily  brought  to  him,  but  reading  had  never  been  much  to  his 
liking.  It  being  summer  and  fly-time,  a  movable  table  at- 
tached to  his  armchair  was  sprinkled  with  sugar  to  attract  the 
flies  that  swarmed  into  the  room.  He  would  sit  for  hours  with 
a  short  leathern-flapped  stick  in  his  hand  killing  flies,  now  and 
then  giving  the  table  a  terrible  whack. 

"  This  is  all  that  I  am  still  fit  for,"  sighed  the  once  useful 
man.  Often  I  was  taken  to  him  to  entertain  him  with  my  boy- 
ish prattle  and  to  make  him  laugh.  Then  he  began  to  tell  me 
about  bygone  days,  especially  about  the  "  French  times,"  and 
the  experiences  of  landed  proprietors  and  peasants  during  those 
terrible  years  of  war  and  pillage.  As  he  talked  I  could  see  the 
merry  "  sans-culottes  "  swarming  over  the  land,  indulging  in 
their  wild  pranks.  I  saw,  as  they  approached,  Count  Wolf 
Metternich  one  night  flying  from  the  castle  in  a  hurry,  after 
having  buried  and  walled  his  treasures,  including  the  family 

[18] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
archives,  deep  down  under  one  of  the  towers,  and  confided  all 
the  belongings  he  left  behind  him  to  my  grandfather's  safe- 
keeping. I  could  see  one  of  the  great  Napoleon's  generals  ride 
through  the  gate,  filling  the  court  with  brilliantly  uniformed 
horsemen,  and  take  up  his  quarters  in  the  great  house.  When 
my  grandfather's  narrative  reached  the  period  of  the  departure 
of  the  French  and  the  arrival  of  the  Cossacks  he  became  spe- 
cially animated.  Then  it  was  that  the  castle  people  had  to  hide 
in  the  depths  of  the  forest  all  their  horses  and  wagons,  cows, 
sheep  and  pigs,  lest  they  should  fall  a  prey  to  either  the  re- 
treating French  or  to  the  advancing  Russians.  Time  and 
again  I  made  him  describe  the  Cossacks.  They  ate  tallow 
candles  and  ransacked  the  house  and  stables  for  spirits.  Find- 
ing none,  they  threatened  to  use  force  with  my  grandmother; 
whereupon  my  grandfather  knocked  a  few  of  them  down,  and 
was  much  surprised  that  none  of  their  comrades  came  to  their 
help.  When  the  search  for  "  schnapps,"  however,  continued, 
my  grandmother  hit  upon  the  happy  idea  of  filling  a  barrel 
with  vinegar,  to  which  she  added  a  large  quantity  of  mustard 
and  pepper-seeds  and  a  little  alcohol.  This  brew,  which  would 
have  burned  like  fire  in  the  throats  of  ordinary  mortals,  the 
Cossacks  praised  highly;  moreover,  it  seemed  to  agree  with 
them.  With  all  their  devilishness  they  possessed  a  God-fear- 
ing sense,  for  whenever  they  were  planning  an  especial  mis- 
chief they  would  carefully  cover  the  eyes  of  the  crucifix  on 
the  wall  so  that  the  good  Lord  might  not  see  the  sin  that  they 
were  about  to  commit. 

Stories  like  these  were  told  me  over  and  over,  and  elab- 
orated to  suit  my  endless  questions  and  my  insatiable  craving 
to  know  more ;  so  that  before  I  could  read  or  write  my  grand- 
father's stirring  recollections  had  etched  into  my  mind  a  very 
fair  impression  of  the  Napoleonic  wars,  so  closely  compli- 

[19] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
cated  with  the  future  history  of  Germany,  and  laid  a  founda- 
tion for  my  future  political  opinions  and  sympathies. 

In  the  winter  evenings  the  Burghalfen's  great  armchair 
was  rolled  up  to  the  center-table  for  a  game  of  cards;  but  in 
spite  of  all  efforts  made  for  his  entertainment,  the  sad  contrast 
between  the  past  and  the  present  soon  undermined  his  cheerful- 
ness. He  tried  to  appear  content,  and  not  to  be  a  burden  to 
his  loved  ones,  but  the  old  life  of  bustle  and  gayety  at  the 
Burg,  of  which  he  had  been  the  soul  and  center,  was  for- 
ever gone;  and  soon  other  clouds  loomed  upon  the  horizon. 


[20] 


CHAPTER  II 

oEFORE  I  was  six  years  old  my  father  took  me  into  the 
village  school  of  which  he  was  the  teacher.  I  remember  that 
I  could  read  and  write  very  early,  but  not  how  I  acquired 
those  arts.  Much  I  owed  to  the  instruction  which  my  father 
gave  me  at  home.  I  had  frequented  the  village  school  hardly 
a  year  when  my  father  resigned  his  position  as  schoolmaster. 
The  salary,  about  $90  a  year,  was  too  pitiably  small  to  support 
the  family,  to  which  in  the  meantime  two  little  girls  had  been 
added. 

My  father,  like  all  who  feel  within  themselves  a  yearning 
for  knowledge  with  few  opportunities  for  satisfying  it,  had 
the  earnest  ambition  to  give  to  his  children  the  education  that 
fate  had  denied  to  him.  With  this  object  in  view  he  made  a 
start  in  a  new  direction,  and  opened  a  hardware-shop,  for 
which  he  appropriated  a  part  of  the  house  which  had  once 
been  a  cow-stable,  hoping  that  the  business  would  gradually 
yield  an  income  sufficient  for  the  family  needs.  In  me  he  be- 
lieved that  he  had  discovered  an  aptitude  for  study.  He  there- 
fore decided  that  at  the  proper  age  I  should  go  to  the  "  gym- 
nasium "  and  later  to  the  university,  to  be  fitted  for  one  of  the 
learned  professions.  For  the  time  being  I  continued  to  attend 
the  village  school,  but  the  instruction  I  received  there  was 
early  supplemented  in  various  directions.  It  was  my  father's 
especial  wish  that  all  his  children  should  study  music.  To  this 
end,  when  I  was  about  six  years  old,  a  queer  little  piano  was 
procured  which  had  neither  pedals  nor  damper,  and  possessed 
several  peculiarities  incident  to  old  age.  But  it  served  well  for 

[21] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
my  first  finger  exercises,  and  to  me  the  instrument  was  very 
beautiful.  Now  we  had  to  find  a  music  teacher.  The  organist 
who  played  in  our  village  church  possessed  an  ear  for  har- 
mony, but,  devoid  of  training,  he  could  hardly  decipher  the 
simplest  composition  on  paper.  The  village  folk  had  accus- 
tomed themselves  to  his  performances,  and  when  there 
occurred  in  his  interludes  some  strange  entanglements  nobody 
was  much  disturbed.  After  the  organist  frankly  admitted  to 
my  father,  with  entire  preservation  of  his  dignity,  that  his 
musical  talents  did  not  include  an  ability  to  impart  knowledge 
to  others,  it  was  decided  that  I  should  go  twice  a  week  to 
Bruhl,  a  town  four  miles  distant,  to  receive  lessons  from  the 
well-equipped  organist  living  there.  The  broad  turnpike 
leading  to  Bruhl  passed  through  a  great  forest.  It  was  a 
mailcoach  road;  and  whenever  the  postilion  happened  to  see 
me  trudging  along  he  would  invite  me  to  a  seat  with  him  on 
the  box,  which  was  a  great  favor  cheerfully  accepted.  After 
a  while  my  younger  brother  Heribert  joined  me  in  taking 
music  lessons,  and  this  enabled  me  to  enlarge  the  scope  of  my 
studies;  for  while  Heribert  was  taking  his  lessons  with  the 
organist  I  had  time  to  lay  the  foundation  of  a  knowledge  of 
Latin  with  the  parish  priest.  Thus  we  wandered  twice  a  week 
to  Bruhl  and  back,  singing  duets  on  the  way,  and  as  we  were 
both  blessed  with  a  good  ear,  and  were  not  wanting  in  voicen 
it  may  have  sounded  well  enough.  At  least  we  attracted  the 
attention  of  many  passers-by.  Once  a  pleasure  party,  stop- 
ping their  traveling  carriage,  and  dismounting,  invited  us  to 
sit  with  them  under  the  trees,  where  they  made  us  go  through 
our  entire  repertoire  and  rewarded  us  with  good  things  from 
their  provision  hamper. 

My  brother  Heribert,  fifteen  months  younger  than  I,  was 
a  charming  boy;  blue-eyed,  blond,  of  a  most  cheerful  tem- 

[SfcJ 


CHRISTIAN    SCHURZ 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
perament  and  an  exceedingly  amiable  disposition.  He  liked  to 
occupy  himself  with  animals  and  flowers  more  than  to  sit  still 
and  pore  over  books ;  so  it  was  decided  that  he  should  become  a 
florist  gardener.  We  two  clung  fondly  to  one  another,  and  my 
mother  later  in  life  often  told  me  that  she  had  no  greater 
joy  than  to  see  us  together  when,  clothed  alike  and  in  many 
ways  recognizable  as  brothers,  we  were  the  most  cordial  com- 
rades in  work  and  play.  Nor  were  wild  pranks  wanting, 
though  there  were  none  of  a  vicious  nature.  The  worst  ad- 
venture made  at  the  time  a  profound  impression  upon  me  and 
has  remained  vivid  in  my  memory.  The  old  halfen  of  an  estate 
near  Liblar  died,  and  as  he  belonged  to  our  extensive  kinship, 
we  two  brothers  had  to  carry  lighted  tapers  in  his  funeral 
procession.  After  the  burial,  according  to  Rhenish  custom, 
the  relatives  and  friends  attending  sat  down  to  a  funeral 
feast.  Such  repasts,  however  solemn  at  the  start,  were  apt  to 
degenerate  into  merry  carousals.  And,  so  it  happened  this 
time.  The  feasting  lasted  long  and  the  excellent  wines  pleased 
the  mourners  mightily.  A  thoughtless  uncle  had  the  un- 
fortunate idea  that  this  would  be  a  good  opportunity  for 
giving  my  brother  Heribert  and  me  a  practical  lesson  in  wine- 
drinking.  He  filled  and  refilled  our  glasses,  constantly  urging 
us  to  empty  them.  The  result  was  that  first  we  became  very 
jolly  and  finally  slipped  from  our  chairs  under  the  table  in  an 
unconscious  state;  whereupon,  profoundly  sleeping,  we  were 
put  into  a  haycart  and  taken  home.  When  we  woke  up  the  fol- 
lowing morning  and  heard  what  had  happened  we  were 
heartily  ashamed.  I  do  not  know  whether  at  that  time  I  re- 
solved never  to  allow  the  like  to  happen  again ;  but  certain  it  is 
that  this  occurrence  gave  me  a  profound  loathing  for  drunk- 
enness, which  I  have  carried  with  me  through  life;  and  al- 
though I  have  always  taken  wine  or  beer  whenever  it  pleased 

[23] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
me,   that   excess   at   the   funeral-feast   has   remained   to   the 
present  hour  my  only  one. 

Of  intellectual  stimulus  our  village  did  not  offer  much,  ex- 
cept that  which  I  found  within  our  home  walls  and  in  the  larger 
family  circle.  My  mother's  opportunities  for  cultivation  had 
never  extended  beyond  the  parish  school  and  intercourse  with 
relatives  and  friends.  But  she  was  a  woman  of  excellent  mental 
qualities — in  a  high  degree  sensible,  of  easy  and  clear  perception 
and  discernment,  and  apt  to  take  a  lively  interest  in  everything 
deserving  it.  But  the  chief  strength  of  her  character  lay  in 
her  moral  nature.  I  know  no  virtue  that  my  mother  did  not 
possess.  Nothing,  however,  could  have  been  farther  from  her 
than  assumption  of  superiority,  for  she  was  almost  too  modest 
and  self-effacing.  Rectitude,  which  is  as  it  is  because  it  cannot 
be  otherwise,  was  in  her  joined  to  the  gentlest  judgment  of 
others.  Her  disinterestedness  in  every  trial  proved  itself  capa- 
ble of  truly  heroic  self-sacrifice.  The  sorrows  of  those  around 
her  she  felt  more  deeply  than  her  own,  and  her  constant  care 
was  for  the  happiness  of  those  she  loved.  No  misfortune  could 
break  her  courage,  and  the  calm  cheerfulness  of  her  pure  soul 
survived  the  crudest  blows  of  fortune.  When  she  died,  nearly 
eighty  years  old,  she  had  even  in  the  last  moments  of  con- 
sciousness a  bright  smile  for  the  children  and  grandchildren 
standing  at  her  bedside.  Her  figure  was  slender  and  well-formed 
and  her  features  somewhat  resembled  those  of  our  grandfather. 
We  children  always  admired  her  curly  golden-brown  hair. 
Whether  in  the  blossom-time  of  her  life  she  would  have  been 
called  beautiful  or  not  we  never  knew;  but  her  countenance  was 
to  us  all  love  and  goodness  and  sunshine.  The  customs  and 
forms  of  the  great  world  were  of  course  unknown  to  her,  but 
she  possessed  the  rare  grace  of  noble  naturalness  which  goes 
far  to  supply  a  deficiency  in  social  training.  Her  handwriting 

[24] 


MOTHER    OF     SCHURZ 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
was  awkward  and  her  spelling  by  no  means  faultless.  Of  litera- 
ture she  knew  little,  and  with  grammar  and  style  she  had  never 
been  troubled.  But  many  of  her  letters,  written  to  me  at  differ- 
ent times  and  in  different  situations  of  life,  were  not  only  rilled 
with  noble  thought  and  sentiment,  but  possessed  rare  poetic 
beauty  of  expression;  the  unconscious  greatness  of  her  soul 
found  its  own  language.  Her  very  being  exercised  a  constantly 
elevating  and  stimulating  influence,  although  she  could  aid  her 
children  but  little  in  the  acquisition  of  what  is  commonly  called 
knowledge. 

All  the  more  zealous  was  my  father  in  this  direction.  The 
low  whitewashed  walls  of  the  small,  modestly  furnished  living- 
room  of  our  house,  in  which  we  also  took  our  meals,  were  hung 
with  the  portraits  of  Schiller,  Goethe,  Wieland,  Korner,  Tasso 
and  Shakespeare;  for  poets,  historians  and  scientists  were  my 
father's  heroes,  and  he  early  told  me  of  their  creations  and 
achievements.  He  read  every  book  he  could  lay  his  hands  upon 
and  had  collected  a  few  of  his  own,  among  them  Becker's 
"  Universal  History,"  some  German  classics  and  some  transla- 
tions from  Voltaire  and  Rousseau.  But  these  books  were  still 
beyond  my  childish  comprehension ;  and  so  others  were  obtained 
for  me  from  a  circulating  library  at  Bruhl.  There  we  found 
a  series  of  folklore  tales,  pretty  well-told  old  legends  of  Em- 
peror Octavianus,  and  the  four  Haimons  children,  and  the 
horned  Siegfried,  and  strong  Roland,  etc.,  and  some  of  the 
popular  knight-stories,  the  contents  of  some  of  which  I  still 
could  tell. 

Then  a  new  world  opened  itself  to  me.  The  old  head 
gardener  of  the  count,  who  had  observed  my  love  of  reading, 
gave  me  one  day  that  most  magnificent  of  juvenile  books, 
"  Robinson  Crusoe."  It  may  be  said  without  exaggeration  that 
to  "  Robinson  Crusoe  "  the  youth  of  all  civilized  peoples  have 

[25] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
owed  more  happy  hours  than  to  any  other  one  book.  I  can  still 
see  it  before  me,  as  I  grasped  it  eagerly  as  soon  as  school  hours 
were  over ;  I  can  see  the  worn  edges  of  the  binding,  the  wood- 
cuts, even  the  inkspot  which  to  my  extreme  annoyance  disfig- 
ured one  of  them;  and  I  can  still  hear  myself  telling  the  school- 
master about  the  wonderful  contents  of  this  book  and  begging 
him  to  read  it  aloud  to  the  class,  which  he  did  on  two  afternoons 
in  the  week,  his  own  interest  increasing  so  much  with  every 
reading  that  the  hours  gradually  lengthened,  to  the  detriment 
of  other  studies.  Next  to  "  Robinson  Crusoe "  came  the 
"  Landwehrmann,"  a  popular  history  of  the  war  of  liberation 
in  1813,  for  which  my  interest  had  been  excited  by  my  grand- 
father's and  my  father's  reminiscences,  and  from  the  reading 
of  which  I  emerged  a  fiery  German  patriot.  And  finally  I  was 
led  up  to  higher  literature  by  my  father's  reading  aloud  to  me 
while  I  was  ill  with  the  measles  some  of  Schiller's  poems,  and 
even  the  "  Robbers." 

There  were  still  other  stimulating  family  influences.  My 
mother  had  four  brothers.  The  oldest,  "  Ohm  Peter,"  as  we 
children  called  him,  had  served  in  a  French  regiment  of  grena- 
diers during  the  last  years  of  Napoleon's  reign,  and  was  rich 
in  recollections  of  that  eventful  period.  The  wars  over,  he  mar- 
ried the  daughter  of  a  half  en  and  became  himself  the  half  en 
of  a  large  estate  in  Lind,  near  Cologne.  In  body  and  mind  he 
resembled  my  grandfather,  and  we  children  loved  him  heartily. 
The  second  was  "  Ohm  Ferdinand."  He  was  the  superintendent 
of  extensive  peatworks  belonging  to  Count  Metternich,  and 
lived  in  Liblar  in  comfortable  circumstances.  He  had  risen  in 
the  Prussian  military  service  to  the  dignity  of  a  "  Landwehr- 
lieutenant,"  and  when  he  turned  out  at  the  periodical  musters 
in  his  fine  uniform,  a  sword  at  his  side  and  a  "  tschako  "  with  a 
high  bunch  of  feathers  on  his  head,  we  children  looked  at  him 

[26] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
with  awe  and  admiration.  This  uncle  had  read  much  and  was 
the  free-thinker,  the  Voltairian,  of  the  family.  He  also  be- 
longed to  a  Freemasons'  lodge  in  Cologne,  of  which  it  was 
whispered  among  the  village-folk  that  the  members  had  sold 
themselves  body  and  soul  to  the  devil,  and  that  at  their  fre- 
quent night-meetings  the  devil  appeared  in  the  guise  of  a  black 
goat  and  demanded  homage  of  them.  The  fact  that  "  Ohm 
Ferdinand  "  never  went  to  church  on  Sunday  seemed  to  confirm 
the  worst  rumors  with  regard  to  him.  The  third  brother, 
"  Ohm  Jacob,"  lived  at  Jiilich,  a  fortified  town  not  far  distant, 
where  he  married  the  daughter  of  a  merchant  and  established 
himself  in  mercantile  business.  He  was  an  extraordinarily 
handsome  man  in  face  and  figure ;  of  fine,  amiable  qualities,  and 
of  distinguished  personality.  His  admirable  character  won  for 
him  the  respect  and  liking  of  the  community  to  such  a  degree 
that  he  was  elected  burgomaster,  an  office  which  he  held  for 
many  years  with  great  dignity  and  with  popular  apprbval. 
Once  a  year  he  visited  the  great  fair  at  Frankfurt-on-the- 
Main,  from  which  he  returned  by  way  of  Liblar,  bringing  to 
us  pretty  little  gifts  and  also  interesting  tales  about  the 
remarkable  men  and  things  he  had  seen  and  heard  there. 

The  fourth  and  youngest  brother  was  "  Ohm  Georg,"  who 
had  served  in  a  regiment  of  cuirassiers  in  Berlin  and  then  had 
come  home  to  aid  my  grandfather  in  his  husbandry.  He  had 
lived  three  years  in  the  capital  of  the  kingdom,  and  therefore 
had  looked  far  beyond  the  shadow  of  the  church-steeple  of  his 
home.  He,  too,  was  a  handsome  man,  and  had  the  chivalrous 
trait  of  the  family.  Each  one  of  the  four  brothers  was  over  six 
feet  in  height,  and  together  they  formed  a  stately  group.  Not 
in  stature  only,  but  in  intelligence  and  breadth  of  view  they 
towered  far  above  the  ordinary  people  of  their  surroundings. 
In   addition   to    them   there   were   two   brothers-in-law — my 

[27] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
father  and  "  Ohm  Rey,"  the  husband  of  a  sister  of  my 
mother's,  a  wideawake  and  jovial  man,  who  owned  a  large  farm 
about  an  hour's  walk  from  Liblar.  This  circle  met  often 
in  happy  social  intercourse.  The  conversation  at  such  times 
was  by  no  means  restricted  to  local  topics,  nor  to  the  trans- 
action of  every-day  business.  These  men  read  newspapers, 
took  an  interest  in  all  that  happened  in  the  outer  world,  and 
discussed,  if  not  with  thorough  knowledge,  at  least  with  eager 
interest  and  sympathy,  the  events  that  moved  humanity  at  large. 
Not  seldom  was  I  present  at  these  talks,  leaning  against  the 
arm  of  my  father's  chair  or  crouching  unnoticed  in  the  corner 
of  the  room,  a  silent  and  receptive  listener.  Here  it  was  that  I 
first  heard  of  the  struggles  of  Abdel-Kader  in  Algiers  and  of 
the  hero  Schamyl  in  the  Caucasus;  of  the  repeated  attempts 
upon  the  life  of  Louis  Philippe  in  France  and  the  Carlist 
wars  in  Spain,  with  the  generals  of  high-sounding,  musical 
names,  and — what  especially  excited  me — of  the  imprisonment 
of  the  Archbishop  of  Cologne  for  Jesuitic  conspiracies  against 
the  Prussian  Government.  And  so  on.  Much  of  what  I  heard 
was  at  first  to  me  little  more  than  mere  sound.  Still  I  asked 
many  questions,  which  were  answered  by  my  father  and  by  my 
uncles  as  well  as  they  could.  And  although  perhaps  the  mind 
of  the  boy  thereby  acquired  but  little  clear  understanding  of 
things,  the  feeling  took  early  root  in  me  that  we  in  our  little 
village  were  a  part  of  a  great  world,  the  affairs  of  which  con- 
cerned us,  too,  and  demanded  our  attention  and  sympathy. 

In  this  family  circle  I  also  heard  for  the  first  time  about 
America.  A  peasant  family  of  our  village,  by  the  name  of 
Trimborn,  emigrated  to  the  United  States.  I  still  have  before 
my  eyes  the  picture  of  their  departure.  One  afternoon  a  wagon 
loaded  with  trunks,  boxes  and  household  utensils  started  from 
a  neighboring  cottage;  the  village-folk  wished  good  luck  to 

[28] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
the  emigrants,  and  a  large  crowd  followed  them  until  the  wagon 
disappeared  in  the  forest  on  the  road  to  Cologne.  Another 
family,  by  the  name  of  Kribben,  who  were  particular  friends 
of  ours,  soon  followed  the  Trimborns  to  settle  in  Missouri, 
where  I  saw  them  many  years  later.  Meanwhile,  things 
American  were  eagerly  discussed  by  my  father  and  my  uncles. 
Then  I  heard  for  the  first  time  of  that  immeasurable  country 
on  the  other  side  of  the  ocean,  its  great  forests,  its  magnificent 
rivers  and  lakes — of  that  young  republic  where  the  people 
were  free,  without  kings,  without  counts,  without  military 
service,  and,  as  was  believed  in  Liblar,  without  taxes.  Every- 
thing about  America  that  could  be  got  hold  of  was  eagerly 
read,  and  I  saw  for  the  first  time  in  a  penny  magazine  the 
picture  of  George  Washington,  whom  my  father  called  the 
noblest  of  men  in  all  history,  because  he  had  commanded  large 
armies  in  the  war  for  the  liberation  of  his  people  and,  instead 
of  making  himself  a  king,  had  voluntarily  divested  himself 
of  his  power  and  returned  to  the  plow  as  a  simple  farmer. 
By  tfyis  example  my  father  explained  to  me  what  it  was  to  be 
a  true  patriot. 

The  men  in  our  family  circle  fairly  reveled  in  that  log- 
cabin  romance,  which  is  so  full  of  charm  to  the  European 
unacquainted  with  the  true  conditions  of  American  life;  and 
it  wanted  but  little  to  induce  the  men  of  the  family  to  try  their 
fortune  in  the  new  world  at  once.  Although  the  resolution  was 
not  taken  in  a  hurry,  America  always  remained  a  favorite 
topic  of  conversation  with  them ;  and  in  the  course  of  time  every 
member  of  my  family  did  emigrate,  some  to  remain  in 
America,  others  to  return  to  Germany. 

Among  grown-up  people  outside  of  the  family,  too,  I 
found  a  friend  who  stands  out  in  my  memory  in  bold  relief.  He 
was  a  singular  character.  His  name  was  George  van  Biirk,  and 

[29] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
as  he  had  been  a  master  shoemaker,  he  generally  went  by  the 
name  of  "  Master  George."  Feeble  sight  obliging  him  to  re- 
nounce his  trade,  he  made  a  living  as  an  errand  man,  and  was 
so  frequently  employed  by  my  father  in  that  capacity  that  he 
almost  seemed  to  belong  to  our  house.  He  was  then  a  man  in 
middle  life,  tall  and  thin,  with  a  haggard  and  sallow  but 
pleasant  face,  to  which,  however,  a  whitish  spot  in  one  of  his 
eyes  gave  a  peculiar  expression.  He  was  one  of  that  class  of 
persons  who  with  good  natural  endowments  have  had  but 
little  education,  but  whom  that  little  has  served  to  lift  out 
of  the  rut  of  the  commonplace.  He  had  read  all  the  books 
that  had  come  in  his  way,  and  although  many  of  them  went 
beyond  his  comprehension,  they  had  helped  shape  his  thoughts 
and  notions.  He  had  all  sorts  of  droll  conceits,  which  he  gave 
forth  with  facility  of  expression  and  sometimes  in  piquant 
terms  of  speech,  and  as  he  was,  withal,  an  amiable  soul,  every- 
body liked  him. 

The  whole  population  of  the  village  and  surrounding 
Rhine  country,  my  own  family  included,  was  Roman  Catholic. 
So  was  Master  George;  but  upon  many  points  he  could  not 
agree  with  the  church.  "  Why,"  he  argued,  "  if  we  are  to 
believe  blindly  and  never  think  for  ourselves,  why  did  the  all- 
wise  Creator  give  us  our  reason? "  This  view  he  applied  with 
especial  acuteness  to  the  sermons  of  the  parish  priest.  Also 
with  the  Apostle  Paul  he  had  various  differences  of  opinion.  I 
was  still  a  mere  child,  but  he  confided  his  religious  scruples  and 
philosophical  contemplations  to  me,  thinking  that  as  I  was  to 
become  a  learned  man,  the  sooner  I  formed  opinions  of  my  own 
on  serious  subjects  the  better.  With  especial  earnestness  he 
warned  me  against  studying  theology  with  the  intention  of 
entering  the  priesthood — for  "  these  divines  are  obliged  to  say 
too  many  things  which  they  do  not  themselves  believe."  And 

[30] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
then  he  attacked  with  great  eloquence  the  miracles  of  which  the 
Bible  tells  us,  and  which  he  confessed  he  could  not  understand. 

Sometimes,  however,  he  seemed  to  remember  that  after  all 
I  was  only  a  child.  He  would  then  take  me  upon  his  knee  and 
tell  me  fairy-stories,  such  as  one  tells  to  children,  but  he  never 
omitted  to  add  that  the  stories  were  not  true  and  that  I  must 
promise  not  to  believe  them«  This  I  did  promise,  but  always 
asked  for  more.  The  child's  mind  has  a  craving  for  the  super- 
natural, and  although  terror  taken  by  itself  is  an  uncomfortable 
sensation,  still  the  shudders  produced  by  the  thought  of  the 
monstrous  and  awful  have  for  it  a  strange  fascination.  The 
village  people  among  whom  I  lived  were  for  the  most  part 
superstitious  to  a  degree.  They  firmly  believed  in  the  personal 
devil  with  horns  and  tail,  and  in  witches  who  were  in  intimate 
league  with  him ;  and  there  were  even  two  or  three  old  women  in 
our  village  to  whom  the  finger  of  suspicion  pointed  as  being 
"  not  quite  right."  I  also  heard  some  of  our  neighbors  tell  of 
"  men  of  fire  "  whom  they  had  seen  with  their  eyes  walking 
about  the  fields  at  night.  These  were  said  to  be  lost  souls  con- 
demned for  their  misdeeds  in  the  flesh  to  wander  about  forever 
in  fiery  torment.  Although  I  knew  perfectly  well  from  my 
talks  with  my  parents  and  uncles  and  Master  George  that  there 
were  no  such  creatures  as  witches,  and  that  the  "  men  of  fire  " 
were  only  will-of-the-wisps  arising  from  the  vapors  of  the 
moorland,  nevertheless  I  found  it  delightfully  gruesome  to 
stare  at  these  old  women  and  cautiously  to  visit  the  morass 
where  these  terrible  "  men  of  fire  "  were  said  to  hover. 

To  my  friend,  Master  George,  I  am  also  indebted  for  my 
first  understanding  of  the  word  philosopher.  There  stood  in 
our  village  street  an  old  deserted  house  which  must  once  have 
been  a  more  aristocratic  dwelling  than  its  neighbors.  It  was 
larger,  the  beams  of  its  framework  were  more  artistically  f ash- 

[31] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
ioned  and  ornamented,  and  the  entrance  had  a  porte  cochere, 
jutting  out  into  the  street.  At  the  time  of  which  I  write  the 
house  was  empty  and  dilapidated,  and  we  village  children  tore 
up  and  down  its  rickety  stairs  and  passageways  and  found  its 
vacant  rooms,  with  their  dark  corners,  well  adapted  for  hide- 
and-seek  and  robber  plays. 

This  uncanny  place  interested  me  deeply,  and  from  Mas- 
ter George  I  learned  that  its  last  owners  and  occupants  had 
been  two  old  bachelors  by  the  name  of  Krupp,  then  long  dead. 
The  older  of  the  two,  so  Master  George  told  me,  was  a  very 
peculiar  gentleman.  He  wore  his  hair  braided  in  a  cue  and  on 
his  head  an  old-fashioned  three-cornered  hat.  He  had  but  one 
eye  and  he  wore  spectacles  with  only  one  glass.  These  were 
sewed  to  the  front  corner  of  his  hat  so  that  the  one  glass  should 
drop  into  place  over  the  one  eye  the  instant  that  he  put  his  hat 
upon  his  head.  He  possessed  a  large  library  and  was  a  very 
learned  man.  He  would  often  wander  through  the  village 
street,  absorbed  in  thought,  his  hands  behind  his  back,  not  no- 
ticing anyone.  He  never  went  to  church,  and  before  he  died 
refused  to  receive  extreme  unction.  Krupp,  so  Master  George 
always  wound  up  his  talk  about  him,  was  "  a  true  philosopher." 
I  asked  my  father  whether  this  queer  man  had  really  been  a 
philosopher.  My  father  thought  so  beyond  a  doubt.  This, 
then,  was  my  first  conception  of  a  philosopher,  and  frequently 
in  late  life,  when  I  heard  philosophy  and  philosophers  spoken 
of,  has  the  picture  of  the  three-cornered  hat  with  the  one-eyed 
spectacle  attached  to  it  risen  up  in  my  mind. 

Master  George  had  strange  peculiarities.  One  day,  while 
he  was  entertaining  a  company  with  amusing  talk,  which 
kept  his  hearers  in  the  merriest  mood,  he  suddenly  heard  a 
clock  strike.  Master  George  stopped  abruptly  in  the  middle 
of  the  sentence,  jumped  to  his  feet,  exclaiming  in  a  solemn 

[32] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
tone :  "  One  hour  nearer  death."  The  next  moment  he  sat 
down  and  after  a  short  silence  continued  his  talk  as  merrily 
as  before.  My  father,  to  whom  I  described  this  scene,  said  that 
he  had  often  seen  Master  George  do  the  same;  that  his  mind 
was  filled  with  a  presentiment  of  impending  death,  and  with 
all  kinds  of  thoughts  about  the  hereafter  which  sometimes 
came  suddenly  to  the  surface  in  this  strange  way.  My  friend 
never  spoke  to  me  about  his  dark  premonitions.  To  me  he 
disclosed  only  the  cheerful  side  of  his  nature  and  of  his 
"  philosophy  of  life,"  although  he  never  used  so  pompous  an 
expression  as  this.  He  frequently  endeavored  to  show  me  how 
little  one  requires  to  be  happy  in  this  world,  and  made  his  own 
life  serve  as  an  example.  He  was  a  very  poor  man,  accord- 
ing to  the  usual  understanding  of  the  term.  Fate  had  not 
only  refused  him  favors,  but  had  in  a  certain  sense  persecuted 
him.  He  did  not  deny  that  he  had  within  himself  the  making 
of  something  better  than  a  mere  cobbler,  but  his  parents 
thought  they  could  make  nothing  else  of  him.  And  yet  the 
weakness  of  his  eyes  had  robbed  him  even  of  the  fitness  for 
cobbler's  work  and  he  had  been  obliged  to  become  an  errand 
runner  in  order  to  earn  the  daily  bread  for  his  wife  and 
children.  But  what  would  it  avail  to  torment  himself  with 
dark  broodings  over  that  which  he  might  have  been  and  was 
not?  The  world  was  a  beautiful  world  even  for  him,  the 
poor  errand  runner.  He  had  enjoyed  the  good  fortune  of 
associating  with  people  who  knew  much  more  and  were  much 
cleverer  than  himself.  And  every  new  idea  thus  opened  to 
him  was  a  new  delight.  If  he  thought  only  of  the  pleasures 
that  life  had  given,  instead  of  the  sufferings  that  it  had  in- 
flicted upon  him,  he  saw  reason  to  be  content.  In  fact,  all  that 
was  required  for  earthly  happiness  was  few  wants  and  a  good 
conscience. 

[33] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 

"  If,"  he  would  say  with  emphasis,  "  you  are  ever  over- 
taken by  misfortune,  or  oppressed  by  poverty,  you  must  think 
of  your  friend  Master  George." 

And  so  I  have  very  often  done.  The  counsel  that  he 
gave  me  upon  every  occasion  was  always  mixed  with  jests  and 
droll  descriptions  of  men  and  things  which  never  permitted 
the  admonitions  to  become  dull  sermons.  He  also  endeavored 
to  stimulate  my  ambition  by  painting  to  me  in  glowing  colors 
the  good  fortune  of  the  liberal  education  which  was  in  store 
for  me;  and  when  he  spoke  of  my  future  career  he  gave  full 
rein  to  his  ardent  imagination. 

His  presentiment  of  an  early  death  proved  true.  My 
good  friend  did  not  long  survive  those  days.  While  I  was  at 
the  gymnasium  he  died  of  consumption.  I  have  always  kept 
him  in  warm  remembrance. 

The  impression  of  what  Master  George  had  said  to  me 
about  religious  things  was  deepened  by  an  occurrence  of  a 
different  nature. 

I  fully  resolved,  so  far  as  a  child  could  make  such  a  reso- 
lution, that  when  I  studied  it  would  not  be  for  the  ministry. 
True,  among  the  Roman  Catholic  population  of  the  lower 
Rhine  country,  a  family  that  counted  a  priest  among  its  mem- 
bers was  proud  of  the  distinction.  But  this  was  mainly  the  case 
with  the  women  of  our  home  circle;  the  men  were  more  or  less 
affected  by  the  free-thinking  spirit  of  the  age,  and  my  uncle 
Ferdinand,  the  Voltairian,  even  went  so  far  as  to  indulge  in 
bold  jests  and  scoffings  upon  religious  subjects.  This  jarred 
upon  me  painfully.  It  seemed  to  me  audaciously  wicked  to 
speak  in  flippant  words  about  things  which  I  had  been  taught 
in  church,  and  at  my  mother's  knee,  were  high  and  holy.  My 
father,  who,  as  already  mentioned,  had  read  his  Voltaire  and 
Rousseau  and  been  influenced  by  them,  never  fell  in  with  that 

[H] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
tone  of  talk.  On  the  other  hand,  he  made  no  effort  to  hold  me 
by  means  of  counteracting  influences  to  strict  adherence  to  the 
faith.  From  the  pulpit  as  well  as  in  private  religious  instruc- 
tion I  had  repeatedly  heard  the  priest  say  that  the  Catholic 
religion  was  the  only  saving  one,  and  that  all  of  different 
belief — Protestants,  Jews  and  heathen — were  hopelessly 
doomed  to  everlasting  hell-fire.  There  was  not  a  single  Prot- 
estant in  Liblar;  in  fact,  we  children  could  hardly  imagine 
what  a  "  Calvinist,"  as  the  Protestants  were  called,  was 
like;  and  when  one  day  a  stranger,  a  Prussian  official,  passed 
through  our  village  and  we  heard  that  he  was  a  Protestant,  we 
looked  at  him  with  a  mixture  of  pity  and  fear,  and  were  much 
surprised  to  find  him  a  man  of  dignity  and  agreeable  presence. 
How  could  he  be  cheerful?  we  wondered;  for,  of  course,  he 
too  must  know  of  his  doom.  There  was  one  Jew  in  the  village, 
a  butcher  who  supplied  the  neighborhood  with  meat.  In  no 
other  way  did  we  come  into  contact  with  him.  But  I  saw 
sometimes  in  our  house  another  Jew  by  the  name  of  Aaron, 
who  lived  in  a  neighboring  village,  and  I  observed  that  my 
father  always  talked  with  him  in  a  friendly  and  interested  way 
upon  various  subjects.  This  astonished  me.  But  my  father 
told  me  that  old  Aaron,  whose  face  had  always  appeared  to 
me  very  serious  and  of  great  dignity,  was  not  only  a  very  good 
and  honest,  but  also  a  very  enlightened,  even  a  wise,  man — more 
honest  and  virtuous  and  wise  than  many  a  Christian.  The 
question  whether  so  good  a  man  as  old  Aaron  must  necessarily 
be  doomed  to  eternal  hell-fire  troubled  me  very  much.  I  could 
not  make  this  agree  with  my  idea  of  the  all- just  God.  Soon 
my  father  read  to  me  Lessing's  "  Nathan  der  Weise,"  setting 
before  me  the  lesson  of  tolerance  which  this  dramatic  poem  so 
attractively  teaches,  and  which  I  most  heartily  enjoyed,  with- 
out being  conscious  how  dangerously  those  teachings  shook 

[35] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
the  pillars  and  undermined  the  fundamental  dogmas  of  the 
only  true  church. 

Another  event  brought  further  shock.  The  schoolmaster 
who  had  succeeded  my  father  had  taken  some  liberties  with 
one  of  the  pupils,  a  relative  of  ours,  and  was  called  to  account 
for  it.  He  denied  the  accusations,  and  the  community  soon 
split  into  two  parties:  on  the  one  side  the  schoolmaster  de- 
fended by  the  parish  priest,  and  supported  by  the  count's 
family  and  a  large  part  of  the  population;  on  the  other 
our  family  and  friends.  The  quarrel  waxed  very  bitter,  as 
is  always  the  case  with  such  village  warfare,  and  led  to  vio- 
lent disputes,  once  even  to  a  bloody  riot,  which  the  one  con- 
stable of  the  place  was  unable  to  suppress.  "  There  is 
revolution  in  the  village,"  people  said.  This  was  the  first  time 
that  I  had  heard  this  fateful  word.  The  priest  made  himself 
especially  conspicuous  by  repeating  slanderous  tales  about 
members  of  our  family.  This  went  so  far  that  even  my 
mother,  the  gentlest  of  women,  became  greatly  excited,  and 
one  day  I  overheard  her  tell  the  priest  to  his  face  that  he  was 
a  wicked  man  and  a  reckless  defamer  of  character — where- 
upon the  clerical  gentleman  tamely  slunk  away.  To  my  mind 
the  priest,  as  the  vicar  of  God  and  the  mouthpiece  of  His 
word,  had  been  a  holy  man.  And  now  to  hear  my  mother,  the 
very  embodiment  of  truthfulness  and  piety,  tell  the  priest  that 
he  was  wicked,  could  not  but  be  to  me  a  dangerous  revelation. 
It  tormented  me  greatly  after  this  not  to  be  able  to  listen  to 
his  Sunday  sermons  with  unshaken  faith,  and  it  distressed  me 
beyond  measure  when  I  stood  near  him  as  a  choir-boy  to  see 
him  perform  the  holy  office  of  the  mass.  But  my  religious 
observances  went  on  as  before. 

The  unhappy  conflict  caused  by  the  schoolmaster  episode 
had  unforeseen  consequences.  The  schoolmaster  indeed  had 

[36] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
to  quit  Liblar,  but  he  left  the  quarrel  behind,  and  it  affected 
the  relations  between  my  grandfather  and  the  count,  which 
down  to  this  time  had  been  most  friendly.  Count  Wolf 
Metternich  was  older  than  my  grandfather — a  stately  and 
stalwart  figure  over  six  feet  high  and  unbent  by  the  burden 
of  his  years ;  his  hair  and  whiskers  silver  white  and  his  counte- 
nance most  benignant.  He  was  a  nobleman  of  the  old  school, 
proud  to  have  old  servants  and  old  well-to-do  and  contented 
tenants.  The  farm-rents  were  low,  and  when  the  crops  failed 
the  count  was  always  willing  to  make  reductions.  On  the  other 
hand,  when  the  crops  were  plentiful,  he  did  not  at  once  seize 
the  opportunity  to  advance  rents,  but  rejoiced  in  the  prosper- 
ity of  his  people.  His  old  business  manager,  the  rent-master, 
as  he  was  called,  looked  grim  and  exacting,  but  he  conducted 
affairs  in  the  spirit  of  his  lord.  Thus  the  relation  between 
the  count  and  my  grandfather  had  been  one  of  easy-going  con- 
tentment on  both  sides,  cemented  by  the  common  remembrance 
of  the  hard  times  of  the  "  French  War,"  during  which  the 
count  had  often  been  obliged,  under  the  most  trying  circum- 
stances, to  entrust  to  my  grandfather  the  care  of  his  ancestral 
home.  Of  course,  the  difference  in  the  worldly  position  be- 
tween the  count  and  the  halfen  was  never  overlooked.  My 
grandfather,  according  to  the  ideas  of  those  days,  was  a  well- 
to-do  man  and  could  allow  himself  some  comforts  and  luxuries. 
But  I  remember  hearing  it  spoken  of  in  the  family  circle  that 
this  or  that  could  not  be  had  or  done,  because  the  castle  people 
might  consider  it  presumptuous  and  take  offense.  For  in- 
stance, my  grandfather  could  go  to  town  or  pay  visits  in  a  two- 
wheeled  chaise, but  not  in  a  four-wheeled  carriage;  and  his  wife 
and  daughters  might  wear  as  pretty  caps  or  hoods  as  they 
pleased,  trimmed  with  lace  ever  so  costly  and  even  adorned 
with  precious  stones,  but  they  could  not  wear  bonnets  such  as 

[37] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
were  worn  in  Cologne.  The  count  when  he  gave  his  great 
annual  hunt  always  invited  the  men  of  our  family.  I  vividly 
remember  the  stately  old  nobleman  as  he  went  on  foot  with 
his  company  into  the  forest — he  himself  in  a  gray  hunting 
coat  armed  with  an  out-of-date  flintlock  gun — for  such  new- 
fangled things  as  percussion-caps  he  would  not  trust.  Upon 
such  occasions  he  treated  his  guests,  whether  noble  or  not,  as 
friends.  But  when  my  grandfather  leased  for  himself  a  hunt- 
ing preserve  in  the  neighborhood,  to  shoot  his  own  hares  and 
partridges,  it  was  considered  doubtful  at  the  castle  whether 
the  Burghalfen  had  not  gone  a  little  too  far.  However,  the 
matter  was  fortunately  allowed  to  remain  in  doubt.  The  old 
countess  was  generally  regarded  as  a  very  proud  lady,  but  in 
her  intercourse  with  my  grandfather's  family  she  always 
showed  the  friendliest  spirit.  We  children  were  invariably  in- 
vited on  Christmas  eve  to  the  Christmas  tree  at  the  castle  and 
presented  with  gifts,  and  whenever  there  was  illness  in  our 
household  practical  helpfulness  as  well  as  genuine  concern 
was  shown  by  the  count  and  his  family.  The  count's  sons 
were  on  a  friendly  footing  with  the  sons  of  the  Burghalfen, 
and  on  festive  occasions  they  danced  right  merrily  with  the 
daughters. 

In  this  long-established  happy  relation  the  quarrel  about 
the  schoolmaster,  in  which,  I  do  not  know  why,  the  count's 
family  took  a  lively  part,  sounded  like  a  discordant  note.  As 
so  often  happens,  when  irritated  feelings  are  at  play,  one 
cause  after  another  bred  mutual  misunderstanding  and  dis- 
content. Then  the  old  count  died,  and  soon  after  the  old  rent- 
master.  The  estate  passed  into  the  possession  of  the  eldest  son, 
and  with  him  began  a  new  regime.  The  young  count  was  a 
man  of  a  good  and  kindly  character,  but  the  time -honored 
principles  in  regard  to  old  servants  and  old  tenants  were  not  a 

[38] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
part  of  his  nature,  as  they  had  been  of  his  father's.  The  high- 
bred patriarchal  simplicity,  so  characteristic  heretofore  of  the 
house,  seemed  to  him  antiquated  and  not  a  little  dull.  He 
found  more  pleasure  in  his  English  racehorses  and  his  smart 
v  jockeys  than  in  the  fat,  heavy  bays  that  had  formerly  drawn 
the  family  coach,  with  a  sleepy  gray-headed  coachman  on  the 
box.  He  was  not  bound  to  the  Burghalfen  by  any  memories 
of  the  hard  French  times,  and  thus  their  relations  gradually 
became  merely  those  of  business  interest.  He  appointed  a  new 
rent-master,  a  young  man  with  brusk  manners  and  entirely 
unsentimental  views  of  life,  and  when  he  explained  to  the 
count  that  the  income  from  the  estate  could  be  considerably 
increased,  the  information  was  by  no  means  unwelcome  in 
view  of  growing  expenditures.  Under  these  circumstances  the 
breach  between  the  young  count  and  the  Burghalfen  rapidly 
widened,  and  finally — the  precise  particulars  I  no  longer  re- 
member— the  rupture  came,  the  lease  of  the  estate  was  can- 
celled and  my  grandfather,  a  year  or  two  later,  left  the  Burg. 
There  was  a  public  auction  of  the  house  and  farm-belongings 
lasting  several  days,  which  I  once  attended  for  a  few  hours. 
The  jokes  of  the  auctioneer  sounded  harshly  offensive  to  my 
ears  and  there  was  a  deep  resentment  in  my  young  heart  as 
though  a  great  wrong  were  being  done.  My  grandparents  then 
took  a  house  in  the  village,  but  they  did  not  long  survive  the 
change  from  the  castle.  My  grandmother  died  first  and  my 
grandfather  twelve  days  later.  Many  tears  of  heart-felt  sor- 
row were  shed  for  them  both. 

Meanwhile  a  great  change  had  taken  place  with  me,  too. 
When  I  was  in  my  ninth  year  my  father  thought  I  had  out- 
grown the  village  school  in  Liblar.  He  therefore  sent  me  to 
a  school  of  a  somewhat  higher  order  in  Bruhl,  which  was  con- 
nected with  the  teacher's  seminary  there,  and  was  regarded  as 

[39] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
a  model  institution.  The  schoolrooms  were  in  an  old  Fran- 
ciscan monastery,  and  I  remember  with  a  shudder  the  tortures 
to  my  sensitive  musical  ear  when  my  father,  in  order  to 
present  me  to  the  principal,  led  me  through  a  long  corridor, 
in  each  window-recess  of  which  stood  a  young  man  practising 
finger-exercises  on  the  violin,  so  that  at  least  a  dozen  instru- 
ments giving  out  discordant  sounds  were  to  be  heard  at  the 
same  time.  The  instruction  I  received  from  the  well-equipped 
master  was  excellent,  and  at  the  same  time  I  continued  my 
lessons  in  Latin  and  my  musical  studies.  I  also  began  to  live 
among  strangers,  boarding  during  the  winter  in  the  modest 
home  of  a  butcher's  widow.  In  the  summer  I  walked  to  school 
from  Liblar  to  Bruhl  and  back  every  day  of  the  week — a  walk 
of  about  eight  miles. 

And  then  came  a  heavy  blow.  One  gloomy  winter's  day, 
returning  from  school  to  my  lodging,  I  found  my  father 
awaiting  me  with  tears  in  his  eyes.  Several  times  his  voice 
failed  in  attempting  to  tell  me  that  my  brother  Heribert,  after 
an  illness  of  only  a  few  days,  had  died.  Only  the  Monday  be- 
fore I  had  left  him  a  picture  of  health.  This  was  a  dreadful 
shock.  My  father  and  I  wandered  home  through  the  forest 
holding  one  another  by  the  hand  and  weeping  silently  as  we 
walked.  For  a  long  time  I  could  not  console  myself  over  this 
loss.  Whenever  I  was  alone  in  the  woods  I  would  call  my 
brother  loudly  by  name  and  pray  God,  if  He  would  not  give 
him  back,  at  least, to  allow  his  spirit  to  appear  to  me. 

Then  I  felt  a  want  of  mental  occupation  on  my  lonely 
way  between  Bruhl  and  Liblar  and  so  I  accustomed  myself  to 
reading  while  I  walked.  My  father,  whose  literary  judgment 
was  somewhat  determined  by  current  tradition,  counted  Klop- 
stock  among  the  great  German  poets,  whom  one  "  must  have 
read,"  and  so  he  gave  me  the  "  Messiah  "  as  appropriate  read- 

[40] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
ing.  To  read  the  whole  of  Klopstock's  "  Messiah  "  is  consid- 
ered to-day  an  almost  impossible  test  of  human  perseverance, 
and  there  are  probably  few  Germans  now  living  who  can  boast 
of  having  accomplished  the  feat.  I  am  one  of  the  few.  On  the 
long  walks  between  Briihl  and  Liblar  I  studied  the  whole 
twenty  cantos,  not  only  with  steadfastness,  but  in  great  part 
with  profound  interest.  It  is  true  that  among  the  pompous 
hexameters  I  hit  upon  many  that  sounded  very  mysterious  to 
me.  I  consoled  myself  with  the  thought  that  probably  I  was 
too  young  fully  to  understand  this  grand  creation.  Other 
parts  really  impressed  me  as  transcendentally  beautiful.  I 
must  confess  that  in  the  literary  studies  of  my  later  life  I  have 
never  been  able  to  rise  again  to  this  appreciation  of  Klop- 
stock's greatness.  After  having  finished  the  "  Messiah,"  I  was 
told  by  my  father  to  learn  by  heart  Tiedge's  "  Urania  "  and 
a  series  of  poems  by  Gellert,  Herder,  Burger,  Langbein, 
Korner  and  others.  Thus  I  became  acquainted  with  a  good 
many  products  of  German  literature,  and  was  in  point  of 
reading  well  prepared  to  enter  the  lowest  class  of  the 
gymnasium. 

Here  I  must  mention  an  occurrence  which  in  a  truthful 
narrative  of  my  life  should  not  be  suppressed.  My  father,  who 
loved  me  dearly  and  took  pride  in  me,  was  extremely  exact- 
ing in  the  performance  of  duty.  He  examined  carefully  the 
weekly  reports  of  my  teachers  and  was  never  satisfied  with 
anything  short  of  the  best.  These  reports  were  always  good. 
Only  once,  tempted  by  a  robber  play  with  my  school-fellows, 
I  had  omitted  the  learning  of  the  Latin  lesson,  which 
crime  the  priest,  my  teacher,  duly  recorded.  Whether  shame 
or  fear  prevented  me  from  telling  my  father  I  do  not  remem- 
ber, but  returning  home  on  Saturday  afternoon,  I  tried  to 
make  him  believe  that  accidentally  the  report  had  not  been 

[41] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL   SCHURZ 
written.  My  hesitating  manner  at  once  convinced  him  that 
something  was  amiss,  and  a  few  direct  questions  brought  me 
to    full    confession.  Then   the    following    conversation   took 
place: 

"  You  failed  to  do  your  duty  and  you  tried  to  conceal  the 
truth  from  me;  don't  you  think  that  you  deserve  a  whipping?  " 

"  Yes,  but  do  please  let  us  go  into  the  cow-stable,  so  that 
nobody  can  see  or  hear  it." 

The  request  was  granted.  In  the  solitude  of  the  cow- 
stable  I  received  my  punishment,  and  nobody  knew  anything 
about  it;  but  for  many  a  day  I  carried  with  me  a  bitter  con- 
sciousness of  well-deserved  humiliation,  and  for  a  long  time  I 
would  not  put  foot  into  the  cow-stable,  the  theater  of  my 
disgrace. 

But  my  childhood  was  on  the  whole  sunny  and  happy, 
and  if  my  memory  fondly  dwells  upon  it  and  I  am  a 
little  diffuse  in  describing  it,  I  must  be  pardoned.  I  consider 
myself  fortunate  to  have  spent  my  early  life  in  the  country, 
where  one  feels  himself  not  only  nearer  to  nature,  but  nearer 
to  his  kind  than  in  the  confinements  and  jostling  crowds 
of  the  city.  I  also  consider  myself  fortunate  in  having  grown 
up  in  simple  and  modest  circumstances  which  knew  neither 
want  nor  excessive  affluence,  and  which  did  not  permit  any 
sort  of  luxury  to  become  a  necessity;  which  made  it  natural 
to  me  to  be  frugal  and  to  appreciate  the  smallest  pleasures; 
which  preserved  my  capacity  of  enjoyment  from  the  misfor- 
tune of  being  blunted  and  blase;  which  kept  alive  and  warm 
the  sympathy,  that  feeling  of  belonging  together,  with  the 
poor  and  lowly  among  the  people,  without  discouraging  the 
striving  for  higher  aims. 

Our  village  was  so  small  that  only  a  few  steps  led  into 
field  or  forest,  and  every  inhabitant  was  a  near  neighbor. 

[  42  ] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
Although,  after  I  could  read,  my  books  consumed  much  of 
my  time,  I  had  my  full  part  of  the  games  with  the  peasant 
and  tradesmen's  children  in  the  village,  and  their  faces  and 
names  are  still  quite  familiar  to  me.  My  most  intimate  friend 
was  the  youngest  of  the  three  sons  of  a  well-to-do  merchant — 
a  boy  of  amiable  disposition  and  good  parts.  We  were  exactly 
of  the  same  age  and  pursued  the  same  studies.  So  we  believed 
ourselves  destined  to  walk  through  life  side  by  side.  We  sep- 
arated in  early  boyhood  and  did  not  meet  again  until  late  in 
life.  He  had  studied  law,  had  served  his  country  with  honor 
in  the  wars  of  1866  against  Austria  and  of  1870  against 
France,  had  risen  to  the  dignity  of  a  major  of  Uhlans  and 
been  decorated  with  the  Iron  Cross,  an  order  bestowed  only  for 
personal  bravery.  After  the  French  war  he  had  been  ap- 
pointed a  judge  in  Alsace,  and  later  he  retired  from  that  place 
to  his  native  village,  an  old  bachelor  in  very  comfortable  cir- 
cumstances. He  inhabited  a  fine  house  on  the  very  spot  where 
many  years  before  the  queer  old  philosopher  Krupp  had  lived. 
Here,  in  1889,  the  dear  comrade  of  my  boyhood,  now  a  portly 
man  of  years,  welcomed  me  and  my  children  who  accompanied 
me  with  radiant  heartiness  and  hospitality.  A  repast  was 
quickly  improvised,  and  when  the  dear  old  friend  pressed  his 
arm  around  my  neck  and  in  his  best  wine  proposed  my  health, 
our  eyes,  like  our  glasses,  were  full  to  the  brim. 

My  father  interested  himself  greatly  in  the  care  of  ani- 
mals and  flowers.  Plants  and  song  birds  were  in  every  room  of 
our  house.  He  taught  me  how  to  set  snares  for  the  field-fares 
which  passed  over  our  country  in  the  autumn,  and  were  re- 
garded as  a  great  table  delicacy.  Those  snares  were  distrib- 
uted along  the  hunters'  trails  in  the  forest,  and  I  used  to  go 
before  sunrise  and  again  at  twilight  in  the  evening  into  the 
depth  of  the  woods  and  secure  the  birds  that  had  been  caught 

[43] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
— a  form  of  sport  which  I  confess  I  no  longer  approve.  In 
these  lonely  walks,  when  roe,  fox,  rabbit  and  now  and  then 
a  wild  boar  rustled  past  me,  I  learned  to  love  the  woods  and 
to  feel  the  fascination  of  the  forest-solitude,  with  its  mysteri- 
ous silence  under  the  great  leaf -roof  and  the  whisper  of  the 
winds  in  the  treetops.  Soon  I  cared  less  for  the  bird-trapping 
than  for  the  enjoyment  of  that  woodland  charm,  and  even  on 
the  way  to  and  from  school  I  learned  to  avoid  the  highroad 
and  to  strike  into  the  shade  on  the  right  or  left,  wherever  I 
could  find  a  path.  This  love  for  the  woods  has  never  left  me,, 
and  often  in  later  life,  at  the  aspect  of  a  beautiful  spreading 
landscape  or  of  the  open  sea,  I  have  asked  myself  whether 
what  I  had  seen  and  felt  in  the  forest  did  not  surpass  all  else. 
Summer  was  for  us  a  period  of  festivities.  Already  in 
May  occurred  the  kirmess  in  Lind,  Ohm  Peter's  home,  and 
late  in  the  autumn  the  kirmess  in  Herrig,  where  Ohm  Rey 
lived;  and  between  those  there  were  still  a  great  many  more 
kirmesses  on  the  farms  of  uncles  and  cousins.  To  most  of 
them  the  whole  family  went,  including  the  children.  For 
such  occasions  a  two-wheeled  chaise  was  not  sufficient.  So 
the  kirmess-car,  an  ordinary  two-wheeled  cart,  covered  with 
tent  cloth  and  furnished  with  seats  that  consisted  of  wooden 
boards  or  bundles  of  straw,  was  put  into  requisition,  and  the 
number  of  human  beings  which  the  kirmess-car  could  take 
seemed  beyond  calculation.  The  horse,  or  when  the  roads  were 
bad,  the  horses,  shone  in  their  most  resplendent  brass-orna- 
ments, and  the  vehicle  was  decorated  with  green  boughs  and 
flowers.  We  found  at  the  kirmess  a  crowd  of  boys  and  girls 
of  our  kin,  who,  like  ourselves,  during  these  festive  days, 
enjoyed  full  freedom.  At  the  midday-meals,  at  which  the 
older  guests  usually  spent  from  four  to  six  hours,  we  children 
did  not  sit  very  long.  Only  when  for  the  entertainment  of  the 

[44] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
company  a  juggler  appeared,  as  for  example  the  great  "  Jan- 
chen  of  Amsterdam,"  who  on  the  farms  of  that  region  enjoyed 
the  reputation  of  being  a  true  sorcerer,  we  would  stand  trans- 
fixed until  he  was  gone.  Then  we  ran  to  the  booths  on  the  vil- 
lage street  with  their  honey-cakes,  cheap  toys  and  little  rou- 
lettes, and  in  the  evening  we  went  "  to  the  music."  From  the 
dance  the  older  people  as  well  as  the  children  usually  retired 
early — the  older  people  to  begin  their  game  of  cards,  which 
frequently  lasted  until  sunrise  next  day — and  the  children  to 
go  to  bed.  Even  this  going  to  bed  was  a  festivity.  As  the 
house  on  such  occasions  always  had  many  more  guests  than 
beds,  a  room  for  the  boys  was  fitted  out  with  straw,  blankets, 
linen  sheets  and  pillows  laid  on  the  floor.  When  such  a  sleep- 
ing apartment  was  offered  to  a  dozen  or  more  boys  as  their 
domain  for  the  night,  the  main  frolic  of  the  day  began,  which 
was  continued  with  boisterous  hilarity  until  one  boy  after 
another  sank  down  utterly  overcome  by  fatigue. 

To  us  children  in  Liblar  the  greatest  day  of  the  year  was 
Whitsun  Monday,  when  the  annual  bird-shooting,  "  the 
Schiitzenfest,"  took  place.  How  grand  appeared  to  me  this 
"  Fest,"  which  in  truth  could  hardly  have  been  more  modest! 
Such  excitement!  On  the  Saturday  afternoon  before  Whit- 
suntide five  or  six  men  were  seen  striding  through  the 
village,  bearing  upon  their  shoulders  a  pole  forty  or  fifty  feet 
long,  at  the  point  of  which  a  wooden  bird  was  fastened. 
The  village  youth  joined  the  procession,  which  slowly  moved 
up  the  street  to  a  meadow  shaded  by  elms  and  linden-trees. 
The  wooden  bird  was  decorated  by  the  children  with  flower- 
ing broom-twigs,  and  then  the  pole  was  hoisted  upon  one 
of  the  trees  and  lashed  to  the  branches  with  ropes  and  chains. 
As  this  was  done  by  hand,  it  was  hard  work  not  without 
danger.  We  children  always  watched  it  with  no  little  trepida- 

[45] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
tion.  I  came  very  near  losing  my  life  on  one  such  occasion. 
The  pole,  having  been  hoisted  up  the  tree,  slipped  the  rope  and 
knocked  one  of  the  men  from  the  branch  on  which  he  sat. 
Standing  just  under  the  tree,  I  suddenly  heard  above  me  the 
crash  of  a  branch  and  the  cry  "  Jesus  Maria!  "  I  sprang  away 
to  see  the  body  of  a  man  fall  exactly  upon  the  spot  on  which 
I  had  stood.  The  poor  fellow  broke  his  spine  and  died  shortly 
after  he  had  been  carried  into  the  village.  Usually,  however, 
the  raising  of  the  pole  passed  without  accident,  and  we 
children  marched  back  with  bouquets  of  blooming  broom  in 
our  hands,  conscious  of  having  helped  in  accomplishing  a 
great  work,  and  with  the  anticipation  of  still  greater  things 
to  come. 

How  slow  Whitsunday  was  in  passing!  But  the  fun  be- 
gan all  the  earlier  on  Monday  morning.  Already  at  daybreak 
the  drummer — an  old  bow-legged  little  man — had  marched 
through  the  village,  beating  the  reveille;  but  it  was  afternoon 
before  the  head  men  of  the  San  Sebastian  society — that  was 
the  name  of  the  sharpshooters-corps,  to  which  belonged  almost 
all  the  grown-up  inhabitants  of  the  village,  male  and  female — 
came  to  our  house,  where  at  that  time  the  flag  and  the  other 
treasures  of  the  society  were  kept,  to  take  them  from  there  to 
the  dwelling  of  the  last  year's  "  king."  Finally,  the  procession 
started:  first  the  old  drummer  with  a  bouquet  of  flowers  and 
many  colored  ribbons  on  his  breast  and  hat;  next,  bearing 
the  flag,  Master  Schafer,  a  tailor,  white-haired  and  spindle- 
legged.  He  was  called  the  "  young  ensign,"  because  his  father 
had  before  him  carried  the  banner,  upon  which  was  painted  in 
loud  colors  St.  Sebastianus,  the  patron-saint,  pierced  with 
an  incredible  number  of  arrows;  then  the  captains,  carrying 
ancient  spears,  also  decorated  with  flowers  and  ribbons,  ac- 
companied by  all  the  solemn-visaged  directors  of  the  society, 

[46] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
and  then  the  "  Schiitzenkonig  "  of  the  previous  year.  The 
king  wore  upon  his  hat  a  crown  of  gold  tinsel  and  artificial 
flowers,  and  around  his  neck  a  silver  chain,  from  which  were 
suspended  silver  shields,  the  size  of  a  hand,  with  the  engraved 
names  of  the  kings  of  at  least  a  hundred  years  back.  The 
shields  covered  the  king's  shoulders  and  breast  and  back, 
giving  him  a  gorgeous  appearance.  His  Majesty  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  marksmen,  with  their  rifles  on  their  shoulders, 
the  remainder  of  the  population,  old  and  young,  bringing  up 
the  rear.  Arrived  at  the  green,  the  procession  marched  three 
times  around  the  tree  upon  which  the  pole  was  fastened, 
halted,  knelt  down  and  repeated  the  Lord's  Prayer.  Then  the 
drummer  beat  the  roll,  the  ex-king  hung  his  crown  and  chain 
upon  the  branch  of  a  tree*  and  after  the  old  men  and  the 
women  members  of  the  society,  who  could  not  themselves  fire 
rifles,  had  chosen  among  the  sharpshooters  present  those  who 
were  to  represent  them,  the  shooting  began.  The  drummer 
watched  each  shot  with  close  attention,  for  it  was  his  duty  to  beat 
a  roll  every  time  that  the  bird  was  hit.  When  that  roll  was  par- 
ticularly vigorous  the  rifleman  who  had  fired  the  shot  re- 
warded the  drummer  with  a  glass  of  wine,  and  it  must  be 
confessed  that  with  every  glass  the  good  man's  face  grew 
redder  and  his  drumbeats  wilder.  The  multitude,  which  mean- 
while had  scattered  among  the  booths  where  sweetmeats,  wine 
and  beer  were  sold,  crowded  again  around  the  marksmen  as 
soon  as  the  wooden  bird  began  to  splinter.  From  minute  to 
minute  the  excitement  rose;  ancient-looking  telescopes  were 
raised  to  discover  the  weak  spots  on  the  bird,  and  the  suspense 
became  breathless  when,  as  often  happened,  only  a  small 
ragged  bit  of  wood  remained  on  the  top  of  the  pole  and  the 
next  well-aimed  shot  might  decide  the  day.  Finally,  when  the 
last  bit  fell,  the  drummer  beat  the  most  terrible  of  his  rolls, 

[47] 


,  THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
the  crowd,  with  deafening  cheers,  pressed  around  the  victor, 
who  now,  as  the  new  king,  was  adorned  with  the  crown  and 
chain  of  shields.  Then  the  moment  had  come  for  the  "  young 
ensign"  to  show  what  he  could  do.  He  swung  the  flag  so 
violently  around  himself  that  those  standing  nearest  stepped 
back  in  alarm ;  he  waved  it  over  his  head  and  around  his  breast 
like  a  wheel,  then  around  his  legs,  then  up  and  down,  back  and 
forward,  until  the  veins  in  his  forehead  threatened  to  burst, 
and  all  this  to  the  accompaniment  of  the  drummer's  most  pas- 
sionate beats.  I  always  watched  him  with  admiration,  con- 
vinced that  nothing  greater  in  this  line  was  possible,  until, 
alas !  one  day  I  overheard  an  old  peasant,  shaking  his  head,  re- 
mark :  "  He  is  nothing  to  what  the  old  man  was !  "  Again  the 
procession  marched  three  times  around  the  tree  and  back  to 
the  village,  the  drummer  at  the  head,  making  remarkable  zig- 
zags with  his  bowlegs,  the  gray-headed  "  young  ensign  "  still 
waving  his  colors  furiously  and  the  marksmen  punctuating 
the  triumphal  march  with  occasional  blind  shots.  Happy  was 
the  boy  to  whom  one  of  the  men  was  willing  to  entrust  the 
carrying  of  his  rifle,  thus  allowing  him  to  take  part  in  the 
great  event! 

Then  came  the  royal  feast  at  the  tavern,  at  which  the  new 
king  entertained  his  predecessors  in  office  and  the  directors  of 
the  society,  with  ham,  white  bread  and  wine.  Finally,  in  the 
evening  followed  a  dance,  the  music  for  which  was  originally 
furnished  by  the  drum,  which  in  my  time,  however,  had  been 
superseded  by  an  orchestra  consisting  of  a  violin,  clarionette 
and  double  bass.  The  reason  why  this  festival  remained  so 
vivid  in  my  memory,  even  to  the  minutest  detail,  is  that  it  ex- 
cited in  me  for  the  first  time  something  like  a  real  ambition.  It 
was  the  great  public  contest  of  skill  in  the  arena  of  the  world 
in  which  I  lived;  and  when  I  saw  the  victor  with  the  crown  on 

[48] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
his  head  and  the  resplendent  chain  of  shields  upon  his  shoul- 
ders and  breast,  surrounded  by  a  cheering  multitude,  it  seemed 
to  me  something  very  great,  to  which  I  too  some  day  might 
aspire.  And  this  honor  was  indeed  to  come  to  me  in  later  days 
when  I  no  longer  appreciated  it  so  highly. 

Although  the  summer  was  thus  rich  in  joy,  our  winter 
was  no  less  so.  It  not  only  brought  skating  on  the  castle  moat 
and  battles  with  snowballs,  but  to  me  the  first  enjoyment  of 
the  stage;  and  of  all  the  joyous  excitements  of  my  childhood 
none  surpassed  that  into  which  we  were  thrown  by  the  ar- 
rival of  the  puppet  theater  in  Liblar.  With  eagerness  we  boys 
regularly  accompanied  the  crier  through  the  village,  who  by 
means  of  a  drum  brought  the  people  to  their  doors  and  an- 
nounced to  the  honored  public  the  coming  of  the  drama.  Oh, 
the  fear  that  I  might  not  be  allowed  to  visit  the  theater,  and 
the  impatience  until  the  final  moment  came!  The  stage  was 
erected  in  a  small  dance-hall.  The  price  for  front  seats  ranged 
from  one  cent  for  children  to  five  cents  for  adults.  The  light- 
ing of  the  hall  consisted  of  a  few  tallow  candles.  But  the  cen- 
ter of  the  dark  curtain  was  decorated  with  a  rosette  of 
transparent  paper  in  different  bright  colors,  and  was  lighted 
from  behind  by  a  lamp  giving  a  suggestion  of  marvel  and 
mystery.  A  shiver  of  expectation  crept  over  me  when  at  last 
a  bell  rang  three  times,  sudden  silence  fell  upon  the  hall,  and 
the  curtain  lifted.  The  stage  scenery  was  arranged  in  per- 
spective and  the  puppets  were  moved  from  above  by  wires. 

The  first  play  that  I  saw  was  "  Die  Schone  Genovefa." 
It  was  a  splendid  piece.  The  fair  Genovefa  is  the  wife  of 
Count  Siegfried.  The  count  rides  to  the  Holy  Land  to  wrest 
the  Holy  Sepulchre  from  the  infidels.  He  entrusts  the  coun- 
tess and  the  castle  to  the  care  of  his  castellan  Golo,  in  whom  he 
reposes    absolute    confidence.  Hardly   has   the    count   ridden 

[49] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
away,  when  Golo  conceives  the  plan  of  making  himself  master 
of  the  castle  and  of  marrying  the  fair  Genovefa.  She  repels 
him  with  disgust.  The  wicked  Golo  then  locks  her  into  a  dark 
dungeon  and  orders  his  man-at-arms  to  kill  her.  This  the 
servant  promises  to  do,  but  moved  by  pity  he  leads  her 
out  of  the  dungeon  into  a  great  lonely  forest  after  telling 
Golo  that  the  murder  has  been  accomplished.  The  fair  Geno- 
vefa lives  upon  herbs  and  berries  and  finds  shelter  in  a  cave. 
Here  she  gives  birth  to  a  child,  a  boy,  the  son  of  Count  Sieg- 
fried, whom  she  calls  "  Schmerzenreich  " — dolorosus.  Fearing 
that  both  she  and  the  boy  will  starve  to  death,  the  poor  mother 
fervently  prays  to  God  for  help,  and  behold!  a  doe  appears 
and  provides  them  both  with  milk.  Every  day  the  doe  re- 
turns and  Schmerzenreich  grows  up  to  be  a  strong  boy.  Sud- 
denly Count  Siegfried  arrives  from  the  Holy  Land  to  the 
dismay  of  the  wicked  Golo,  who  had  been  hoping  that  his 
master  would  be  killed  in  the  far-away  country. 

The  castle  folk  at  once  recognize  the  count;  Golo  turns 
over  the  castle  to  him,  and  tells  him  that  Genovefa  is  dead. 
The  count  is  very  sad.  He  goes  into  the  forest  to  hunt,  and 
happens  to  see  a  doe,  which  leads  him  to  the  cave.  Husband 
and  wife  are  reunited  and  the  whole  truth  comes  to  light. 
Mother  and  child  are  taken  back  in  triumph  to  the  castle,  and 
the  horrid  Golo  is  condemned  to  die  of  hunger  in  the  same 
dungeon  into  which  he  had  cast  the  fair  Genovefa. 

The  puppet  show  had  other  plays,  one — the  great 
warrior-prince  "  Eugene  " — a  heroic  drama  in  which  great 
battles  were  fought  and  whole  rows  of  paper  Turks  were 
shot  down.  And  then  a  fairy  play  with  every  kind  of  mar- 
velous transformation  and  other  surprises.  All  these  things 
were  very  pretty,  but  to  my  mind  they  could  not  be  com- 
pared to  the  fair  Genovefa.  The  impression  that  this  play 

[50] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
made  upon  me  was  simply  overpowering.  I  wept  hot  tears 
at  the  leave-taking  of  Count  Siegfried  from  his  wife 
and  even  more  over  their  reunion,  and  could  hardly  re- 
strain a  cry  of  delight  when  husband  and  wife  returned 
to  the  castle  and  the  wicked  Golo  met  his  well-deserved 
fate.  I  do  not  believe  that  ever  in  my  life  at  a  play  was  my 
imagination  so  active  and  the  effect  on  my  mind  and  emotions 
so  direct  and  overwhelming.  This  doll  with  a  plume  on  its  hat 
was  to  me  the  real  Count  Siegfried;  that  one  there  with  the 
red  face  and  black  beard  the  real  treacherous  Golo;  this  one 
with  the  white  gown  and  the  yellow  hair  the  beautiful  Geno- 
vefa,  and  the  little  red  thing  with  the  wriggling  legs  a  real 
live  doe.  The  impression  was  the  same  when  I  saw  the  play  a 
second  time.  I  knew  the  whole  story  and  how  it  was  to 
end;  but  when  the  count  took  leave  of  his  wife  and  departed 
for  the  Holy  Land  I  could  hardly  refrain  from  calling  out 
to  him  not  to  go,  for  if  he  did,  something  terrible  was  sure  to 
happen.  How  happy  that  naive  condition  of  childhood  in 
which  the  imagination  surrenders  itself  so  unresistingly,  with- 
out being  in  the  least  disturbed  by  the  critical  impulse! 

But  this  faculty  of  naive  enjoyment  received  with  me 
an  early  and  a  vicious  shock.  When  I  was  about  nine  years 
old  I  saw  for  the  first  time  live  human  beings  on  the  stage  in  a 
play  called  "  Hedwig,  the  Bandit  Bride,"  by  Korner.  It  was 
played  in  Briihl  by  a  traveling  company.  The  chief  character, 
that  of  the  villain  Rudolph,  was  acted  with  all  the  teeth- 
gnashing  grimaces  customary  on  a  little  provincial  stage. 
But  as  I  still  took  this  to  be  the  genuine  thing,  it  did  not 
fail  to  make  a  strong  impression,  although  not  nearly  as 
strong  as  that  at  the  puppet-show  when  the  fair  Genovefa  was 
played.  I  began  to  criticise,  and  this  inclination  received  a 
tremendous  impulse  when  in  the  company  of  my  father  I  saw 

[51] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
this  "  Bandit  Bride  "  for  the  second  time.  In  the  last  act,  ac- 
cording to  the  text,  Hedwig,  the  heroine,  has  to  kill  the  villain 
by  hitting  him  a  vigorous  blow  on  the  head  with  the  butt  of  a 
gun  while  he  is  crouching  over  a  trapdoor.  On  the  Bruhl  stage 
this,  however,  was  changed:  Hedwig  was  to  shoot  the  villain 
instead  of  striking  him.  When  the  actress  who  played  this 
part  pointed  her  weapon  and  tried  to  fire,  it  refused  to  go  off 
and  gave  only  a  faint  click.  The  villain  remained  in  his  bent 
posture  over  the  trapdoor,  hoping  every  moment  to  be  killed. 
Hedwig  again  pulled  the  trigger,  but  in  vain.  The  poor 
woman  looked  around  utterly  helpless.  In  the  audience  there 
was  the  deepest  silence  of  expectation.  Then  from  behind  the 
side-scene  came  the  order,  in  that  loud  stage-whisper  which 
can  fill  an  entire  house:  "  Bang  him  on  the  head  with  the  butt; 
bang  him  quick!"  Whereupon  Hedwig  with  slow  delibera- 
tion reversed  the  gun  and  struck  the  man  who  had  been  so 
patiently  awaiting  death  a  leisurely  blow  upon  the  head.  He 
rolled  over,  the  audience  burst  into  uncontrollable  shrieking 
laughter,  in  which  the  dead  villain,  lying  upon  the  stage, 
could  not  refrain  from  joining.  In  the  audience  the  merriment 
would  not  cease.  But  as  for  me,  I  would  far  rather  have  cried; 
the  occurrence  fairly  stunned  me.  With  it  ended  that  com- 
plete surrender  to  illusion  which  had  given  me  so  much  joy.  It 
failed  me,  at  least  until  I  was  fortunate  enough  to  behold  ar- 
tistic performances  of  a  higher  order;  and  this  happily  came 
soon  during  my  schooltime  at  the  gymnasium  in  Cologne. 


[S«] 


CHAPTER  III 

I  WAS  ten  years  old  when  my  father  took  me  to  the  gym- 
nasium at  Cologne,  usually  called  the  "  Jesuit  Gymnasium," 
although  it  had  no  connection  with  that  religious  order.  In 
those  days  Cologne  had  about  ninety  thousand  inhabitants, 
and  was,  as  I  supposed,  one  of  the  finest  cities  in  the  world. 
My  grandfather  had  taken  me  there  several  years  before  on 
a  visit,  and  well  do  I  remember  the  two  things  that  then  inter- 
ested me  most :  the  cathedral  tower  with  the  huge  crane  on  top, 
and  the  convict  chain-gangs  sweeping  the  streets — sinister- 
visaged  fellows  in  clothes  striped  dark  gray  and  yellow,  with 
heavy  iron  chains  on  their  feet  that  rattled  and  clanked  dis- 
mally on  the  pavement  stones,  one  or  more  soldiers  standing 
guard  close  by,  gun  in  hand.  I  remember  also  how  my  grand- 
father reproved  me  for  taking  off  my  cap  to  everybody  whom 
we  met  in  the  streets,  as  was  the  custom  in  our  little  village  at 
home;  for  he  said  there  were  so  many  people  in  Cologne  that 
were  one  to  attempt  to  bow  to  them  all  there  would  be  no  time 
left  for  anything  else ;  that  one  could  never  become  acquainted 
with  all  those  persons,  and  many  of  them  were  not  worth  know- 
ing; and  finally,  that  such  deference  on  my  part  would  mark 
me  at  once  as  a  country  boy  and  make  me  appear  ridiculous. 

This  "  making  myself  ridiculous "  was  something  I 
greatly  dreaded,  and  I  would  have  taken  any  pains  to  avoid  it ; 
yet  it  happened  that  my  first  appearance  at  the  gymnasium 
was  an  occasion  of  amusement  to  others  and  of  mortification 
to  myself.  In  the  schools  at  Liblar  and  Briihl  we  had  been  in 
the  habit  of  using  slates  for  our  arithmetic  and  dictation  exer- 

[53] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
cises.  Not  dreaming  that  a  slate  was  incompatible  with  the 
dignity  of  a  ten-year-old  pupil  at  the  gymnasium,  I  carried 
mine  under  my  arm  into  the  class-room  and  thus  unwittingly 
exposed  myself  to  the  scoffs  and  giggles  of  the  boys,  not  one  of 
whom  I  knew.  There  was  a  loud  burst  of  laughter  when  one 
boy  shouted:  "Look  at  that  fellow;  he  has  got  a  slate!"  I 
should  have  liked  to  reply  to  this  remark  with  my  fists,  but 
just  at  that  moment  the  instructor  entered,  and  all  was 
respectful  silence. 

My  scale  of  living  at  Cologne  was,  of  necessity,  ex- 
tremely modest.  Board  and  lodging  had  been  provided  for 
me  by  my  parents  at  the  house  of  a  locksmith.  I  slept  in  the 
same  bed  with  the  locksmith's  son,  who  was  also  a  mechanic, 
and  took  my  meals  at  the  family  table  with  the  journeymen 
and  apprentices.  Severe  decorum  was  exacted  of  all;  the  mas- 
ter led  the  conversation,  and  only  the  foreman  occasionally 
took  part  in  it.  I  had  no  social  intercourse  whatever  with  per- 
sons of  good  education  outside  of  school;  but  within  school 
many  helpful  influences  surrounded  me. 

At  the  present  day  the  question  "  What  should  be  the 
course  of  study  in  an  educational  institution  of  the  rank  of  a 
gymnasium? "  is  being  much  discussed.  This  I  shall  return  to 
later.  But  the  question  what  the  course  of  study  should  be 
seems  to  me  by  no  means  the  only  important,  nor  even  the 
most  important,  one.  What  we  learn  in  school  is  naturally  but 
little,  only  a  small  portion  of  that  which  we  have  to  learn  for 
fruitful  activity  in  after  life.  It  is  therefore  of  especial  con- 
sequence that  the  things  learned  in  school,  whatever  they  may 
be,  should  be  taught  in  such  a  manner  as  to  awaken  and  en- 
courage in  the  pupil  the  desire  and  enjoyment  of  learning 
more,  and  to  enable  him  to  seek  and  find  for  himself  the  means 
of  further  instruction,  and  to  use  them  to  the  greatest  possible 

[54] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
advantage — in  one  word,  that  the  pupil  in  school  should  learn 
how  to  learn.  This  requires  not  only  appropriate  methods  of 
teaching,  but  also  individual  ability  of  the  teacher  to  judge  of 
the  capacities  of  his  pupil,  to  put  those  capacites  into  activity 
and  to  guide  and  inspire  them.  And  just  in  these  respects  I 
was  uncommonly  fortunate  in  my  years  at  the  gymnasium. 

The  -head  master  of  the  lowest  class  was,  in  my  time,  a 
young  Westphalian,  Heinrich  Bone,  whom  I  remember  with 
especial  gratitude.  At  a  later  period  he  became  widely  known 
as  a  teacher  of  exceptional  ability.  He  instructed  us  not  only 
in  Latin,  but  also  in  German ;  and  he  strictly  held  to  the  prin- 
ciple that  clearness  and  directness  of  expression  are  the  funda- 
mental requisites  of  a  good  style.  Instead  of  wearying  his 
pupils  with  dry  grammatical  rules,  he  gave  them  at  once  short 
compositions  to  write,  not  upon  subjects  like  "  The  Beauty 
of  Friendship,"  or  "  The  Uses  of  Adversity,"  but  simple  de- 
scriptions of  things  actually  seen — a  house,  a  group  of  people, 
a  picture,  and  the  like.  He  required  these  compositions  to  be 
rendered  in  the  simplest  possible  sentences,  without  any  com- 
plication or  ornament.  The  most  important  rule,  however, 
which  he  enforced  with  especial  emphasis  was  this :  every  noun, 
every  adjective,  every  verb,  must  express  some  object  or  some 
quality,  or  some  act  perceptible  to  the  senses.  All  that  was 
vague  or  abstract  or  not  perceptible  to  the  senses  was  at  first 
severely  forbidden.  In  this  manner  he  accustomed  his  pupils  to 
see  clearly  whatever  was  before  their  eyes,  and  then  to  set  forth 
the  impression  received  in  words  so  concise  and  clear-cut  that 
their  meaning  was  unmistakable. 

When  we  had  attained  a  certain  degree  of  efficiency  in 
this  very  simple  exercise,  we  were  allowed  to  enlarge  the  form 
of  our  sentences,  but  only  for  the  purpose  of  presenting  more 
clearly  and  fully  some  vivid  picture.  Thus  we  were  led  step 

[55] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
by  step  to  the  construction  of  some  complicated  periods. 
Narrative  compositions  followed  the  descriptive  ones,  the 
teacher's  requirement  still  being  the  utmost  clearness  of  ex- 
pression; and  not  until  the  pupil  had  proved  himself  compe- 
tent to  grasp  and  to  present  the  actual,  the  sensually 
perceptible,  was  he  permitted  to  indulge  in  abstractions  and 
reflections.  This  method  taught  us  not  only  to  form  correct 
sentences,  but  to  exercise  the  faculty  of  correct  observation, 
which,  strange  to  say,  is  developed  in  a  comparatively  small 
number  of  people. 

The  fundamental  idea  underlying  this  method,  applicable 
to  all  instruction,  is  that  the  principal  aim  of  teaching  should 
be  to  fit,  equip  and  stimulate  the  mind  of  the  scholar  with  a 
view  to  independent  action.  Herein  lies  the  secret  of  all  suc- 
cessful mental  education.  This  is  the  way  to  learn  how  to 
learn.  To  be  sure,  the  pursuit  of  this  method  demands  teach- 
ers of  ability  and  thorough  training,  to  whom  their  calling  is 
something  more  than  a  mere  routine  business. 

I  count  it  among  the  special  favors  of  fortune  in  my  life 
that  such  a  man  as  Professor  Bone  continued  to  be  my  princi- 
pal teacher  in  the  three  lowest  classes  of  the  gymnasium.  The 
instruction  I  received  from  him  in  the  class  room  was  supple- 
mented by  frequent  private  conversations,  for  I  was  among 
those  favored  with  his  personal  friendship.  My  first  little 
composition  attracted  his  attention  and  won  his  approval.  I 
vividly  remember  my  proud  satisfaction  when  once  he  read 
one  of  my  writings  to  the  class.  He  invited  me  to  visit  him  in 
his  quarters.  At  that  time  he  was  occupied  in  compiling  a 
reader,  to  be  used  at  the  higher  institutions  of  instruction,  and 
for  this  book  he  himself  wrote  a  series  of  little  descriptions  and 
stories,  as  illustrations  of  his  method.  Several  of  them  he  read 
to  me  and  asked  me,  probably  to  assure  himself  of  the  impres- 

[56] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
sion  made  upon  the  simple  mind  of  a  pupil,  to  criticise  them, 
which  privilege  I  exercised  with  frankness.  He  did  me  the 
honor  of  putting  two  or  three  of  my  little  compositions,  with- 
out essential  change,  into  his  book,  as  examples  of  his  rules 
faithfully  followed.  From  the  thirty-fifth  edition  of  Bone's 
"  Lesebuch,"  received  by  me  from  Germany  some  years  ago,  T 
will  quote  one  of  them  as  illustrating  the  principles  fixed  by 
him  for  the  beginner.  It  is  a  "  Hunting  Scene." 

"  The  mountains  and  meadows  were  covered  with  glistening  snow. 
The  sky  shone  red  with  the  rising  of  dawn.  I  saw  three  huntsmen  stand- 
ing under  a  tall  oak.  The  large  branches  on  the  tree  bore  a  heavy  weight 
of  snow ;  the  small  twigs  sparkled  with  icicles.  The  huntsmen  were  clad 
in  light  green  jackets,  adorned  wth  shining  buttons.  At  their  feet  lay 
a  large  stag;  its  red  blood  colored  the  white  snow.  Three  brown  dogs 
stood  beside  the  dead  body,  their  tongues  hanging  quivering  out  of  their 
mouths." 

In  turning  the  pages  of  this  reader,  many  delightful 
evening  hours  passed  with  my  teacher  arise  in  my  memory. 
In  many  of  those  conversations  he  sought  to  guide  my 
reading  and  especially  to  make  me  acquainted  with  the 
beauty  of  old  German  poetry.  He  also  encouraged  me  to 
read  historical  works.  I  possessed  Becker's  Universal  His- 
tory. This  I  read  from  beginning  to  end,  and  reread  what 
had  especially  interested  me.  Through  the  extracts  given  in 
Becker's  work  I  first  became  acquainted  with  Homer.  Those 
extracts  in  fluent  prose  stimulated  my  desire  to  learn  more 
of  that  poet  so  much  that  I  procured  the  translation  of  the 
"  Iliad "  and  the  "  Odyssey,"  by  Johann  Heinrich  Voss. 
Never  until  then,  and  I  believe  never  since,  has  poetry  moved 
me  so  tremendously  as  in  the  great  passages  describing  Hec- 
tor's leave-taking  from  Andromache  at  the  city  gate,  when 
the  hero  lifts  little  Astyanax  upon  his  arm   and   invokes  the 

[57] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
gods  for  him;  or  the  prostration  of  old  King  Priam  in  the 
tent  of  Achilles  as  he  implores  the  cruel  victor  for  the  dead 
body  of  his  heroic  son;  or  the  meeting  of  Odysseus  and  Nau- 
sikaa,  and  the  departure  of  the  god-like  sufferer  from  the 
house  of  the  Phaiakian  king,  when  Nausikaa,  sad  and  bashful, 
hides  behind  a  column  and  gazes  after  the  departing  stranger; 
or,  after  the  terrible  battle  with  the  suitors,  the  meeting  of 
Odysseus  with  the  faithful  Penelope,  or  the  scene  where  the 
returning  hero  reveals  himself  in  the  garden  to  his  old,  sorrow- 
stricken  father,  Laertes.  The  reason  why  these  scenes  moved 
me  so  much  more  deeply  than  the  descriptions  of  the  bat- 
tles in  the  "  Iliad "  and  the  fabulous  adventures  in  the 
"  Odyssey,"  although  these,  too,  were  most  fascinating,  I 
only  learned  to  appreciate  later ;  it  is  because  they  touch  within 
us  the  purely  human  feeling  which  depends  neither  on  time 
nor  place;  which  is  neither  ancient  nor  modern,  but  universal 
and  eternal. 

After  reading  Homer  in  translation  I  began  to  long  im- 
patiently for  the  study  of  Greek,  and  the  ease  with  which  I 
acquired  that  language  afterwards,  was  undoubtedly  due  to 
my  desire  to  meet  Homer  in  the  full  beauty  of  the  original 
form. 

Of  course  I  was  early  introduced  to  the  kings  and  to  the 
republican  heroes  and  sages  of  Roman  history,  and  learned, 
through  my  own  experience,  to  appreciate  how  greatly  the 
study  of  a  language  is  facilitated  by  studying  the  history  of 
the  country  to  which  it  belongs.  This  applies  to  ancient 
tongues  as  well  as  to  modern.  When  the  student  ceases  to  look 
upon  the  book  which  he  is  translating  as  a  mere  pile  of  words 
to  be  brought  into  accord  with  certain  rules  of  grammar ;  when 
that  which  the  author  says  stimulates  him  to  scrutinize  the  true 
meaning,  relation  and  connection  of  the  forms  of  expression 

[58] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
and  the  eager  desire  to  learn  more  of  the  story  or  the  argument 
urges  him  on  from  line  to  line,  and  from  page  to  page,  then 
grammar  becomes  to  him  a  welcome  aid,  and  not  a  mere 
drudgery,  and  he  acquires  the  language  almost  without  know- 
ing how. 

I  fully  experienced  this  when  under  Bone's  guidance 
I  read  Cornelius  Nepos  and  Caesar's  Gallic  wars,  and  still  more 
in  translating  Cicero's  Orations.  Most  of  these  appear  to  the 
student  at  first  rather  difficult.  But  if  he  begins  each  time  by 
examining  the  circumstances  under  which  the  oration  was 
delivered,  the  purpose  it  was  to  serve,  the  points  upon  which 
special  stress  was  to  be  laid,  and  the  personalities  which  were 
involved  in  the  proceeding,  he  will  be  imperceptibly  hurried 
along  by  the  desire  to  discover  with  what  representations  and 
arguments,  what  attacks  and  defenses,  what  appeals  to  rea- 
son, honor,  or  passion,  the  orator  has  sought  to  carry  his  cause, 
and  the  quickened  interest  in  the  subject  will  soon  overcome 
all  the  linguistic  difficulties.  I  remember  that,  so  stimulated, 
I  usually  exceeded  in  my  translations  the  task  set  to  me  for 
the  next  recitation,  and,  besides,  by  this  zealous  reading  a 
sense  was  created  for  what  I  may  call  the  music  of  the  lan- 
guage, which  later  greatly  helped  me  in  the  idiomatic  construc- 
tion of  my  Latin  compositions. 

Professor  Bone  ceased  only  too  soon  to  be  my  teacher,  for 
his  extraordinary  capacities  attracted  wide  attention  outside  of 
the  gymnasium,  and  he  received  a  call  to  undertake  the  direc- 
torship of  an  educational  institution  founded  by  some  Rhenish 
noblemen  for  the  education  of  their  sons.  He  left  the  gym- 
nasium in  compliance  with  this  call.  I  did  not  see  him  again 
for  many  years.  When  traveling  in  1888  through  Germany 
I  heard  from  an  old  school  fellow  that  Bone,  in  failing  health, 
had  retired  to  Wiesbaden.  I  resolved  at  once  to  seek  him  out. 

[59] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
I  found  him  living  in  a  very  modest  house,  the  interior  of 
which  looked  almost  like  a  convent — for  Bone  had  always  been 
a  devout  and  strict  Roman  Catholic.  An  elderly  nun-like 
person  ushered  me  into  a  small  parlor  hung  with  pictures  of 
saints  and  adorned  with  crucifixes.  She  carried  my  card  into 
an  adjoining  room,  from  which  instantly  issued  a  cry  of 
delight;  and  the  next  moment,  dragging  himself  hurriedly 
along,  my  good  old  teacher  appeared.  Time  had  changed  him 
from  a  vigorous  young  man  into  a  shriveled,  fragile  little 
body,  clad  in  a  long  dressing  gown,  his  feet  in  large  gray  felt 
slippers,  and  a  black  skull-cap  covering  his  thin  white  hair. 
We  embraced,  and  the  dear  old  man  seemed  beside  himself 
with  joy. 

"There,  I  knew  I  was  right,"  he  exclaimed:  "I  heard 
that  you  had  come  to  Germany,  and  I  was  sure  that  if 
you  went  to  see  the  great  people  in  Berlin  you  would  certainly 
also  come  to  see  me.  I  recognized  your  voice  at  the  front  door ; 
yes,  yes,  I  knew  it  at  once,  although  I  have  not  heard  it  for 
*  more  than  forty  years." 

We  sat  down  close  together,  and  there  was  much  ask- 
ing and  answering  of  questions.  His  eyes  shone  with  pleasure 
when  I  told  him  that  I  had  sent  to  Germany  for  the 
latest  edition  of  his  reader;  that  I  had  often  explained  to 
my  children  and  friends  the  method  by  which  he  taught  me  how 
to  write  German,  whereupon  he  reminded  me  of  our  even- 
ings in  Cologne  and  how  he  had  liked  me  as  a  boy,  and  so  forth. 
Thus  a  few  delightful  hours  slipped  by.  When  finally  I  rose 
to  go,  he  exclaimed: 

'  What,  not  going  already!  We  must  have  a  glass  of 
wine  together.  Good  heavens!  there  isn't  a  drop  of  wine  in 
the  house.  What  shall  I  do?  " 

Then  he  added,  thoughtfully: 

[60] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 

"  I  have  some  excellent  stomach  bitters ;  shall  we  drink 
one  another's  health  in  bitters?  " 

I  was  quite  content.  The  bottle  was  taken  from  the  cup- 
board, the  black  liquor  poured  out,  we  drank  one  another's 
health  in  stomach  bitters,  and  the  glasses  rang.  Another  em- 
brace, and  we  parted  never  to  meet  again. 

But  to  return  to  my  school  days.  The  quiet  life  of  the 
first  years  in  Cologne  was  not  without  its  excitements.  Two 
occurrences  of  this  time  made  a  deep  impression  upon  me.  My 
daily  walk  to  school  led  past  the  great  Cathedral,  which,  now  in 
its  finished  state  the  admiration  of  the  world,  looked  in  those 
days  much  like  a  magnificent  ruin.  Only  the  choir  had  been 
nearly  finished.  The  great  central  part  between  the  choir  and 
the  towers  stood  under  a  temporary  roof  and  was  built  partly 
of  brick.  One  of  the  two  towers  was  not  more  than  some  sixty 
feet  above  the  ground,  while  the  other,  surmounted  by  the 
famous  century-old  crane,  had  reached  perhaps  three  or  four 
times  that  height.  The  tooth  of  time  had  gnawed  the  medieval 
sculptures  on  the  walls  and  arches  and  turrets,  and  the  whole 
hoary  pile,  still  unfinished,  yet  decaying,  looked  down,  sad  and 
worn,  upon  the  living  generation  at  its  feet. 

One  morning  when  I  was  wending  my  accustomed  way  to 
school  I  saw  fall  from  the  top  of  the  crane  tower  an  object 
which  looked  like  a  cloak,  and  from  which  in  its  descent  some- 
thing detached  itself  and  floated  away  in  the  breeze.  The  cloak 
shot  straight  down  and  struck  with  a  heavy  thud  upon  the  stone 
pavement  below.  The  passers-by  ran  to  the  spot;  the  cloak 
proved  to  contain  a  man,  who,  without  doubt,  had  sought  his 
death  by  jumping  down.  He  had  fallen  upon  his  feet,  and  lay 
there  in  a  little  heap;  the  bones  of  the  legs  had  been  pressed 
into  the  body;  the  head,  encircled  by  a  fringe  of  gray  hair,  was 
much  disfigured;  the  face,  pale  and  distorted,  was  that  of  an 

[61] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
elderly  man.  The  object  which  had  floated  away  in  falling 
proved  to  be  a  wig.  When  the  winds  had  played  with  it  for 
a  while  it  settled  down  quietly  beside  its  dead  owner. 

This  shocking  spectacle  filled  my  mind  with  uncanny  im- 
aginings. I  made  every  effort  to  discover  who  the  unfortunate 
man  was,  and  what  the  cause  could  have  been  to  drive  him  to 
such  desperation;  but  all  rumors  were  uncertain  and  contra- 
dictory. Then  fancy  conjured  up  to  my  mind  all  possible 
turns  of  fortune  and  conditions  of  life  which  could  drive  a 
human  being  into  self  destruction — hopeless  poverty;  lost 
honor;  disappointed  affections;  torments  of  conscience — and 
soon  my  head  was  filled  with  plots  of  stories  or  tragedies,  all 
of  which  ended  with  the  self -destructive  plunge  from  the 
cathedral  tower. 

Another  tragic  scene  which  agitated  my  mind  in  a  similar 
way  is  photographed  upon  my  memory.  A  young  man  in 
Cologne  had  murdered  his  sweetheart  and  been  condemned 
to  death.  The  execution,  by  the  guillotine — for  the  left  bank  of 
the  Rhine  was  still  under  the  "  Code  Napoleon  " — was  to  take 
place  at  dawn  of  day  on  a  public  square  between  the  Cathedral 
and  the  Rhine,  and  before  the  eyes  of  all  who  might  choose 
to  witness  it.  The  trial  had  excited  the  whole  population  to  a 
high  degree ;  now  the  people  looked  forward  to  the  final  catas- 
trophe with  almost  morbid  interest.  My  locksmith  guardian 
was  of  the  opinion  that  neither  he  nor  I  should  miss  the  op- 
portunity of  beholding  so  rare  a  spectacle.  Long  before  sun- 
rise he  awoke  me,  and  together  we  went  to  the  place  of  execution 
in  the  gray  morning  light.  We  found  there  a  dense  crowd, 
numbering  thousands,  of  men,  women  and  children;  above 
them  loomed  the  black  scaffold  of  the  death  machine.  Deep 
silence  reigned;  only  a  low  buzz  floated  over  the  multitude 
when  the  condemned  man  appeared  on  the  scaffold,  and  then 

[62] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
all  was  silence  again.  My  sturdy  locksmith  held  me  up  in  his 
arms,  so  that  I  might  look  over  the  heads  of  the  crowds  in 
front.  The  unfortunate  culprit  stepped  forward ;  the  assistant 
of  the  executioner  strapped  him  to  a  board  which  extended 
from  his  feet  to  his  shoulders,  leaving  his  neck  free;  the  vic- 
tim glanced  up  at  the  ax,  suspended  from  a  cross  beam;  the 
next  instant  he  was  pushed  down  so  that  his  neck  lay  under  the 
gleaming  blade ;  the  ax  fell  like  a  flash  of  lightning,  severing 
the  head  from  the  shoulders  at  a  whisk.  A  stream  of  blood 
spurted  into  the  air,  but  the  hideous  sight  was  quickly  concealed 
from  the  gaze  of  the  public  by  a  dark  cloth.  The  whole  deed 
was  done  with  the  rapidity  of  thought.  One  scarcely  became 
conscious  of  the  terrible  shock  before  it  was  over.  A  dull  mur- 
mur arose  from  the  onlooking  throngs,  after  which  they  silently 
dispersed;  the  scaffold  was  taken  down  and  the  blood  on  the 
ground  covered  with  sand  before  the  first  rays  of  the  morning 
sun  shone  brightly  upon  the  Cathedral  towers.  I  remember 
walking  home  shuddering  and  trembling,  and  finding  it  im- 
possible to  eat  my  breakfast.  Nothing  could  have  induced  me 
to  witness  another  execution. 

The  good  locksmith  was  an  enthusiastic  play-goer,  and  al- 
lowed me  sometimes  to  accompany  him  to  the  theater — to  be 
sure  only  on  the  topmost  gallery,  where  a  seat  cost  five  groschen 
(twelve  and  a  half  cents).  The  theater  of  Cologne  occupied, 
as  I  learned  later,  in  the  world  of  art  a  very  respectable  place. 
To  me  it  was  a  dream  of  the  marvelous  and  magnificent.  I 
was  beside  myself  with  astonished  delight  when,  for  the  first 
time,  I  saw,  before  the  lifting  of  the  curtain,  the  painted 
ceiling  over  the  auditorium  part  in  the  middle  and  through 
this  mysterious  opening  a  brilliantly  lighted  chandelier  slowly 
descend,  the  ceiling  thereupon  closing  again.  The  performances 
I  witnessed  also  moved  me  powerfully. 

[63] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
Indeed  I  did  not  follow  them  with  the  same  naive  illusions 
with  which  I  had  lived  through  the  adventures  of  the  fair 
Genovef  a ;  but  what  I  saw  in  the  theater  in  Cologne  was  on  so 
much  higher  a  level  that  I  could  surrender  myself  again  to 
full  enjoyment.  Thus  I  saw  one  or  two  knight  dramas,  popu- 
lar at  the  time;  also  "  Wallenstein."  These  pleasures  did  not 
come  in  rapid  succession,  for  frequent  visits  totli£-tfieater  could 
hardly  have  accorded  with  the  principle  of^economy  that  gov- 
erned my  locksmith  as  well  as  myself.  But  the  drama  took 
profound  hold  upon  me,  and  what  I  saw  of  it  created  an  almost 
irresistible  desire  to  write  a  play  myself.  I  searched  through 
Beckers'  Universal  History  for  a  good  subject,  and  finally  fell 
upon  the  Anglo-Saxon  King  Edwy,  who  ruled  in  England 
in  the  middle  of  the  tenth  century  and  who  brought  upon  him- 
self, through  his  love  for  the  beautiful  Elgiva,  a  struggle 
with  Saint  Dunstan,  and  an  unhappy  fate.  It  seemed  to  me 
that  if  I  took  some  liberties  with  history,  as  dramatic  poets  not 
seldom  do,  this  subject — a  royal  lover  battling  with  the  power 
of  the  church — might  be  capable  of  being  worked  up  into  a 
fine  tragedy.  Of  course  the  play  as  I  wrote  it  amounted  to 
nothing ;  but  in  weaving  the  plot  through  successive  scenes,  and 
in  writing  out  some  of  the  dialogues,  I  enjoyed  the  full  bliss 
of  literary  creation.  Never  to  have  tasted  this  delight  is  never 
to  have  known  one  of  the  greatest  joys  of  life. 

Lyric  poems  and  ballads  also  figured  among  my  "  early 
works."  One  of  my  ballads  originated  in  this  wise:  Under 
a  clump  of  tall  trees  not  far  from  the  castle  at  Liblar  were 
some  crumbled  ruins  of  masonry  that  had  an  uncanny  look. 
Nobody  seemed  to  know  their  history.  Imagination  pictured 
to  me  a  variety  of  possibilities,  out  of  which  I  wove  a  romantic 
tale.  The  Knights  of  the  Gracht  had  on  this  spot  kept  wild 
animals  in  a  big  pit.  A  beautiful  maiden  had  somehow  got 

[64] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
into  this  pit  and  had  been  rescued  by  a  noble  youth  after  a 
heroic  fight  with  the-  monstrous  beasts.  This  adventure,  not 
very  original  to  be  sure,  I  worked  up  in  pompous  eight-line 
stanzas,  the  sound  of  which  delighted  me  so  much  that  I  could 
not  refrain  from  sending  a  copy  of  my  poem  to  my  father. 
He,  even  prouder  of  it  than  I,  hastened  to  show  the  verses  to 
Count  Metternich.  The  count,  who  probably-  took  little  in- 
terest in  any  kind  of  poetry,  pronounced  them  fine,  but  said 
that  he  had  never  heard  of  this  occurrence  as  a  part  of  his 
family  history — which  did  not  surprise  me  in  the  least. 

At  prose,  too,  I  tried  my  hand.  Once,  after  having  written 
a  composition  on  "  Schiller's  Maid  of  Orleans,"  which  struck 
me  as  especially  good,  I  found  it  difficult  to  resist  the  ambitious 
desire  of  seeing  myself  in  print.  I  made  a  clean  copy  of  the 
composition  and  carried  it  to  the  office  of  the  Cologne  Ga- 
zette, with  a  letter  addressed  to  Levin  Schucking,  a  well- 
known  novelist  of  the  time,  and  the  literary  editor  of  that 
great  journal.  In  my  letter  I  begged  the  privilege  of  a  per- 
sonal interview.  A  courteous  answer  fixed  the  day  and  hour 
of  my  visit,  and  soon  I  stood,  with  loud  heart-beats,  at  the 
great  man's  door,  who,  so  I  believed,  held  my  literary  future 
in  the  hollow  of  his  hand.  I  found  in  him  an  amiable  gentle- 
man, with  pleasant  features,  and  large,  blue,  benevolent  eyes. 
He  received  me  very  kindly,  talked  upon  a  variety  of  subjects 
and  finally  returned  my  manuscript  to  me  with  the  remark 
that  it  contained  much  that  was  excellent,  but  that  I  would 
do  well  to  regard  it  only  as  a  "  study."  I  departed  completely 
crushed  with  disappointment  and  mortification;  but  after  all 
I  lived  to  become  sincerely  grateful  to  good  Mr.  Schucking 
for  his  timely  counsel.  Much  that  I  have  since  written  has, 
in  pursuance  of  his  sound  advice,  been  quietly  treated  as  a 
"  study  "  by  myself. 

[65] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
When  I  had  reached  the  "  Tertia  "  of  the  gymnasium, 
fortune  favored  me  again  by  bringing  me  into  close  relations 
with  another  admirable  instructor,  Professor  Piitz,  who  had 
become  distinguished  as  the  compiler  of  excellent  historical 
text-books.  He  could  not  boast  of  great  historical  researches 
made  by  himself,  but  he  possessed  a  rare  skill  in  exciting  the 
interest  of  the  pupils  in  the  subjects  of  instruction,  and  in 
pointing  out  the  way  to  further  studies.  His  method  of  teach- 
ing history  was  to  devote  the  greater  part  of  the  hour  to  a 
presentation,  in  free  speech,  of  the  particular  period  with 
which  he  wished  to  make  us  familiar.  He  enlivened  his  subject 
by  exhibiting  it  in  a  variety  of  lights  and  by  adding  sufficient 
detail  to  make  his  lecture  not  only  instructive,  but  also  dramatic 
and  picturesque,  and  thus  easily  remembered. 

In  the  next  lesson  the  pupils  were  expected,  whenever 
called  upon,  to  reproduce,  out  of  themselves,  in  their  own 
language,  what  they  had  learned  in  the  previous  lessons,  the 
short  recitals  of  the  hand-book  serving  as  a  framework  to 
the  historical  structure.  From  time  to  time  the  professor 
would  deliver  a  comprehensive  discourse,  grouping  together 
the  events  of  certain  historic  periods,  and  thus  giving  us  bird's- 
eye  views  over  wide  fields.  In  this  way  history  was  impressed 
upon  our  memory  as  well  as  our  understanding,  not  in  the 
form  of  tabulated  statements  or  columns  of  figures,  nor  merely 
by  means  of  anecdotes,  but  in  panoramic  views  and  prospects 
full  of  life  and  philosophical  light.  To  me,  the  class  lesson  and 
the  study  connected  with  it,  for  which  I  had  always  an  espe- 
cial liking,  became,  instead  of  hard,  dry  labor,  a  genuine  joy 
which  could  not  repeat  itself  too  often.  It  was  largely  owing 
to  these  methods  of  instruction  that,  when  a  few  years  later  at 
my  final  examination  Professor  Putz  asked  me  whether  I 
thought  I  could  from  my  memory  describe  the  conquests  of 

[66] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
Alexander  the  Great  and  draw  a  map  thereof  on  the  black- 
board, I  felt  myself  able  to  undertake  the  task,  and  accom- 
plished it  satisfactorily. 

Soon  after  I  had  become  his  pupil  Professor  Piitz  drew 
me  nearer  to  him,  and  something  like  relations  of  confidential 
friendship  grew  up  between  us.  He  had  traveled  much  during 
his  long  vacations,  had  seen  many  foreign  countries  and  made 
acquaintance  with  many  remarkable  personalities.  Thus  he 
had  widened  his  mental  horizon  beyond  the  limits  of  that  of 
the  ordinary  teacher  of  the  gymnasium.  There  was  something 
cosmopolitan  in  his  conceptions,  and  in  regard  to  theological, 
as  well  as  political  things,  he  passed  for  a  man  of  advanced 
ideas. 

In  addition  to  history,  he  also  taught  us  German  composi- 
tion, and  as  in  my  writings  he  discovered  something  akin  to 
his  own  views,  he  treated  me  almost  like  a  young  comrade, 
whom  he  permitted  in  his  presence  to  forget  the  schoolboy 
for  the  moment.  He  liked  to  tell  me  about  his  travels  and 
about  the  social  and  political  institutions  and  affairs  of  the 
world;  and  when  our  conversation  turned  upon  church  and 
state,  he  talked  not  seldom  with  a  certain  touch  of  irony,  which 
was  to  make  me  understand  that  in  his  opinion  many  things 
ought  to  be  different  from  what  they  were.  He  also  encour- 
aged expressions  of  opinion  on  my  part,  and  it  gave  him 
pleasure  to  see  that  I  had  thought  of  this  and  that  which  was 
not  just  within  the  circle  of  a  schoolboy's  ideas ;  and  when,  so  en- 
couraged, I  gave  expression  to  my  boyish  criticisms  of  existing 
conditions,  he  would  sometimes  listen  with  an  approving  smile, 
at  the  same  time  remarking  that  we  might  talk  unreservedly 
between  ourselves,  but  that  it  would  be  advisable  for  us  to  be 
more  circumspect  in  conversation  with  others. 

In  other  ways  also  he  enlarged  my  horizon.  From  his 

[67] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
private  library  he  lent  me  several  volumes  of  Goethe  and  of 
works  of  writers  of  more  recent  times.  Even  foreign  litera- 
tures he  opened  to  me;  he  gave  me,  for  instance,  the  transla- 
tions of  Shakespeare  by  Schlegel  and  Tieck,  which  I  devoured 
with  avidity,  and  he  made  me  acquainted  with  Cervantes  and 
Calderon.  He  also  taught  me  some  Italian,  and  read  with  me 
the  "  Prisons  "  of  Silvio  Pellico  in  the  original,  and  parts  of 
Tasso  and  Ariosto  in  translation.  Thus  he  disclosed  to  me  a 
new  world;  and  I  think  of  him  with  gratitude,  as  one  of  the 
benefactors  of  my  youth.  It  was  a  great  pleasure  to  me  to  meet 
Professor  Piitz  again  in  later  life.  It  must  have  been  in 
1873,  when  I  was  a  member  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States, 
that  I  received  one  day,  by  European  mail,  a  package  con- 
taining a  letter  from  Professor  Piitz,  with  some  printed 
pages.  "  I  have  frequently  corrected  your  tasks,"  he  wrote, 
"  and  now  you  have  to  correct  mine."  Then  he  informed  me 
that  he  was  preparing  a  new  edition  of  his  historical  hand- 
books, and  wished  to  have  my  judgment  about  that  part 
which  treated  of  the  latest  events  in  America.  And  this  he 
laid  before  me^on  the  proof  sheets  that  accompanied  the  letter. 
With  pleasure  I  complied  with  his  request,  and  found  his  work 
so  correct  in  every  detail  that  it  did  not  call  for  the  slightest 
amendment.  On  my  next  journey  to  Germany  I  sought  him 
out  in  Cologne.  He  had  retired  from  his  office,  and  lived  in 
comfortable  surroundings.  I  found  him,  to  be  sure,  very  much 
aged,  but  still  young  in  spirit.  Our  meeting  was  a  hearty  joy 
to  us  both,  and  we  celebrated  it  with  a  delightful  supper. 

When  I  entered  the  higher  classes  of  the  gymnasium  the 
influence  of  youthful  friendship  came  powerfully  into  my  life. 
I  gave  up  my  quarters  at  the  locksmith's  because  there  was 
no  piano  there  for  daily  practice,  and  moved  into  more  suitable 
lodgings.  It  now  became  possible  for  me  to  receive  visitors 

[68] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
and  to  lead  a  somewhat  freer  life.  Among  my  schoolmates  I 
always  had  friends  of  my  own  age,  but  none  whose  endeavors 
and  ambitions  accorded  much  with  my  own  tastes.  Now  I 
became  acquainted  with  a  circle  of  youths  who,  like  myself, 
wrote  verses,  and  read  them,  and  encouraged  each  other  in 
the  study  of  literature.  The  two  with  whom  I  came  into 
closest  intimacy  were  Theodore  Petrasch,  the  son  of  a  secre- 
tary of  the  provincial  government,  and  Ludwig  von  Weise,  a 
descendant  of  a  patrician  family  of  Cologne.  Petrasch  was 
an  uncommonly  bright  youth  of  a  most  amiable,  cheerful 
and  exuberant  nature.  Weise,  while  possessing  excellent  abil- 
ities and  a  strong  character,  had  developed  rather  the  critical 
than  the  productive  faculties  of  his  mind.  Both  discussed 
political,  as  well  as  religious,  subjects  with  far  more  free- 
dom and  assurance  than  I  had  dared  to  do,  and  their  liberal 
utterances  had  already  attracted  the  notice  of  the  gymnasium 
authorities.  Petrasch  had  been  called  to  account  by  the  in- 
structor of  religion  and  had  made  certain  heretical  confes- 
sions with  such  frankness  that  the  shocked  schoolmaster  sus- 
pended him  from  all  religious  observances  until  a  new  light 
should  break  in  upon  him,  and  he  invited  him  to  further  talks 
upon  sacred  subjects. 

To  me,  questions  of  religious  faith  had  for  some  time 
caused  many  hours  of  most  serious  reflection.  I  have  already 
narrated  how  in  earliest  childhood  my  belief  in  the  everlasting 
punishment  of  the  heterodox,  and  in  the  infallibility  and  moral 
perfection  of  the  priesthood,  had  been  severely  shaken.  Since 
then  I  had  pondered  much  upon  kindred  subjects,  and  the  time 
had  now  come  for  me  to  be  "  confirmed."  In  preparation  for 
this  rite,  the  Roman  Catholic  priest,  our  instructor,  especially 
indoctrinated  us  in  the  tenets  of  the  church.  I  threw  myself 
into  this  study  with  an  earnest  desire  to  overcome  all  doubts.  It 

[69] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
even  seemed  to  me  at  times  that  this  had  been  accomplished, 
and  I  went  through  the  act  of  the  "  First  Communion  "  in  a 
state  of  religious  exaltation.  But  very  soon  the  old  scruples 
and  doubts  returned  stronger  than  before.  What  was  most 
repugnant  to  me  was  the  claim  of  the  church  to  be  not  merely 
the  only  true  church,  but  also  the  only  saving  one,  and  that 
there  was  absolutely  no  hope  of  salvation  outside  of  its  pale, 
but  only  damnation  and  eternal  hell-fire.  That  Socrates  and 
Plato;  that  all  the  virtuous  men  among  the  heathen;  that  even 
my  old  friend,  the  Jew,  Aaron;  nay,  that  even  the  new-born 
babe,  if  it  happened  to  die  unbaptized,  must  forever  burn  in 
unquenchable  fire — yes,  that  I  too,  were  I  so  much  as  to  har- 
bor the  slightest  doubt  concerning  their  terrible  fate,  must 
also  be  counted  among  the  eternally  lost — against  such  ideas 
rebelled  not  only  my  reason,  but  my  innermost  instinct  of  jus- 
tice. Such  teachings  seemed  to  me  so  directly  to  contradict  the 
most  essential  attributes  of  the  all- just  Deity,  that  they  only 
served  to  make  me  suspicious  of  other  tenets  of  the  creed. 
High  authorities  in  the  church  have  indeed  not  maintained 
teachings  so  extreme,  but  assigned  to  unbaptized,  innocent 
infants  and  to  virtuous  heathen  after  death  a  mysterious  state 
intermediate  between  heaven  and  hell.  Yet  certain  it  is  that 
the  religious  teachings  of  my  youth  held  to  the  immoderate 
tenets  I  have  described,  thus  enforcing  with  a  rude  and  relent- 
less logic  the  dogma  of  original  sin  and  the  necessity  of  infant 
baptism.  What  a  blessing  it  would  have  been  to  the  church  and 
to  all  within  reach  of  its  influence,  if,  not  only  some,  but  all  of 
its  teachers  had  opened  its  whole  heaven,  with  the  full  counte- 
nance of  God,  not  only  to  its  believers,  but  to  all  innocent  and 
virtuous  human  souls. 

I  was  distressed  beyond  measure.  Often  I  prayed  fer- 
vently for  light,  but  in  answer  to  my  prayers  only  the  old 

[70] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
doubts  came  back.  I  went  to  my  teacher  of  religion  and 
confided  to  him  the  condition  of  my  mind  with  perfect  frank- 
ness. We  had  a  series  of  conversations,  in  which,  however,  he 
had  little  to  say  to  me  that  I  had  not  heard  before.  I  confessed 
to  him  with  the  utmost  candor,  that  while  I  should  be  glad 
to  be  convinced  by  what  he  said,  he  had  not  so  convinced  me ; 
whereupon  I  also  was  relieved  of  the  obligation  of  attending 
religious  observances  until  I  myself  felt  an  urgent  desire  to 
resume  them.  I  zealously  studied  ecclesiastical  history  and 
dogmatic  writings,  and  availed  myself  of  every  opportunity 
to  listen  to  preachers  of  renown;  but  the  longer  and  more 
earnestly  I  continued  those  studies  the  less  could  I  find  my 
way  back  to  the  articles  of  faith  which  were  so  repugnant  to 
my  sense  of  justice.  There  remained,  however,  within  me  a 
strong  religious  want,  a  profound  respect  for  religious  thought. 
I  have  never  been  able  to  listen  to  a  light-minded  scoffer  about 
religious  subjects  without  great  repugnance. 

While  my  friends  could  not  tell  me  much  that  was  soothing 
on  religious  topics,  they  opened  to  me  vistas  in  German  litera- 
ture^— especially  the  political  part  of  it — which  were  new  and 
fascinating.  Of  Heine,  my  teacher,  Professor  Piitz,  had  told 
me,  but  I  knew  of  him  little  more  than  his  name ;  of  Freiligrath, 
only  a  few  of  his  pictures  of  the  tropics ;  of  Gutzkow,  Laube, 
Herwegh,  and  so  on,  nothing  at  all. 

Petrasch  lent  me  Heine's  "  Book  of  Songs."  This  was  to 
me  like  a  revelation.  I  felt  almost  as  if  I  had  never  before 
read  a  lyric  poem;  and  yet  many  of  Heine's  songs  sounded 
to  me  as  if  I  had  always  known  them,  as  if  the  fairies  had 
sung  them  to  me  at  my  cradle.  All  the  verses  that  I  myself^ 
had  written  until  then,  and  which  were  mostly  of  the  declama- 
tory kind,  went  at  once  into  the  fire,  and  I  saw  them  burn  with 
genuine  relief.  The  reading  and  the  rereading  of  the  "  Book 

[71] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
of  Songs  "  was  to  me  an  indescribable  revelry.  Then  I  read 
the  pictures  of  travel,  the  various  political  poems,  and  "  Atta 
Troll,"  with  its  acrid  political  satire,  the  wit  of  which  did 
not  do  good  to  the  heart,  but  sharply  turned  one's  thoughts 
upon  the  condition  of  the  fatherland.  I  read  also  with  my 
friends  the  poems  of  such  revolutionary  stormers  as  Herwegh, 
Hoffmann  von  Fallersleben  and  others,  most  of  which  we 
possessed  and  circulated  among  us  only  in  written  copies. 

The  revolutionary  passions  expressed  in  many  of  those 
poems  were  in  fact  foreign  to  us,  but  their  attacks  upon  the 
existing  governments,  especially  upon  the  Prussian,  struck  a 
responsive  chord  which  easily  reverberated  in  the  breast  of  every 
Rhinelander.  Our  Rhine  country,  with  its  gay,  light-hearted 
people,  had,  within  a  comparatively  short  period,  passed 
through  a  series  of  multi-colored  experiences.  Before  the 
time  of  the  French  Revolution  it  had  been  under  the  easy- 
going, loose  rule  of  the  Archbishop  Electors;  then,  conquered 
and  seized  by  the  French,  it  belonged  for  a  time  to  the  French 
Republic  and  the  Empire.  At  last,  after  the  French  wars,  it 
was  annexed  to  Prussia.  Of  these  three  rulerships,  following 
one  another  in  too  rapid  succession  for  any  sentiments  of 
allegiance  to  take  firm  root,  the  Rhine  folk  liked  the  Prussian 
rule  the  least,  although  it  was  undoubtedly  the  best.  The  ab- 
rupt, stiff,  exacting  character  of  Prussian  officialdom,  with 
its  rigid  conceptions  of  duty  and  order,  was  uncongenial  to 
the  careless  and  somewhat  too  pleasure-loving  Rhenish  people. 
Besides,  the  population  was  throughout  Roman  Catholic,  and 
the  word  Prussian  was  synonymous  with  Protestantism.  Prus- 
sian officers  in  considerable  numbers  came  to  help  govern  the 
Rhine  people,  which  of  course  created  bfad  blood.  All  these 
things  made  Prussian  rule  on  the  Rhine  appear  like  a  sort 
of  foreign  rule,  which  was  very  repugnant  to  the  feelings  of  the 

[72] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
natives.  In  the  course  of  time  they  recognized  that  the  honest, 
orderly  methods  of  administration  by  the  Prussian  officers 
possessed  great  merit;  but  the  spirit  of  opposition,  charac- 
teristic of  the  Rhenish  population,  once  aroused,  could  not  be 
easily  overcome.  The  word  Prussian  served  for  an  opprobrious 
invective,  and  when  one  schoolboy  flung  it  at  another  it  was 
difficult  to  find  a  more  stinging  epithet  to  fling  back.  All 
this  was  to  become  entirely  changed  in  consequence  of  the 
revolutionary  movement  toward  national  unity  in  1848;  but 
at  the  time  when  I  was  a  student  at  the  gymnasium  the  hatred 
of  Prussia  was  still  in  fullest  flower  on  the  banks  of  the 
Rhine. 

We  young  people  were  indeed  free  from  provincial,  and 
especially  religious,  narrowness  of  sentiment,  but  we  shared 
the  prevailing  impression  that  great  changes  were  necessary; 
that  it  was  scandalous  to  withhold  from  the  people  the  free- 
dom of  speech  and  press;  that  the  old  Prussian  absolutism 
must  yield  to  a  new  constitutional  form  of  government;  that 
the  pledges  made  to  the  German  nation  by  the  German  princes 
in  1813  had  been  shamefully  violated,  and  that  the  disinte- 
grated fatherland  must  be  molded  into  a  united  empire  with 
free  political  institutions.  The  fermenting  restless  spirit  per- 
meating the  minds  of  the  educated  classes,  and  finding  expres- 
sion in  the  literature  of  the  day,  aroused  in  us  boys  the  warmest 
enthusiasm.  By  what  means  the  dreams  of  liberty  and  unity 
were  to  be  accomplished — whether,  as  Herwegh  advised  in  one 
of  his  poems,  which  we  all  knew  by  heart,  we  were  to  tear  the 
iron  crucifixes  out  of  the  ground  and  forge  them  into  swords, 
or  whether  there  was  a  peaceable  way  of  reaching  the  goal — 
we  were  not  at  all  clear  in  our  thoughts.  But  we  eagerly  read 
newspapers  and  pamphlets  to  keep  ourselves  informed  of  the 
occurrences  and  tendencies  of  the  day.  Neither  could  we  alto- 

[73] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
gether  refrain  from  occasionally  uttering  our  sentiments. 
I  was  in  the  Upper  Secunda  when  our  professor  of  German 
— it  was  no  longer  my  friend  Piitz — gave  us,  as  the  subject 
of  a  composition,  a  memorial  oration  on  the  battle  of  Leipzig. 
Believing  it  to  be  my  duty  to  write  exactly  what  I  thought 
about  that  event,  I  expressed  with  entire  frankness  my  feel- 
ings about  the  ill-treatment  the  German  people  had  suf- 
fered after  their  heroic  efforts  on  that  battlefield,  and  my 
hope  of  a  complete  regeneration  of  the  German  fatherland. 
I  was  profoundly  in  earnest.  I  wrote  that  memorial  oration, 
so  to  speak,  with  my  heart's  blood.  When  the  professor,  at  one 
of  the  next  lessons,  returned  the  papers  to  us  in  the  class  room, 
with  critical  remarks,  he  handed  mine  to  me  in  silence.  It 
bore  this  footnote:  "  Style  good;  but  views  expressed  nebulous 
and  dangerous."  After  the  adjournment  of  the  class  he  called 
me  to  his  side,  put  his  hand  upon  my  shoulder  and  said,  "  What 
you  wrote  has  a  fine  sound;  but  how  can  such  things  be  al- 
lowed at  a  royal  Prussian  gymnasium?  Take  care  that  it  does 
not  happen  again."  From  that  time  on  he  refrained  from 
giving  subjects  to  the  class  which  might  tempt  us  to  political 
discussion. 

In  the  meantime  I  continued  zealously  my  literary  studies, 
and  my  creative  impulses  were  constantly  stimulated  by  the 
applause  of  intimate  friends.  I  wrote  a  large  number  of  short 
poems,  and  also  some  tragedies  on  historic  subjects.  No  rec- 
ord of  these  sins  of  my  youth  have  remained  in  existence  to 
embitter  my  subsequent  life — or  perhaps  also  to  contribute  to 
its  merriment.  We  are  easily  ashamed  of  our  premature  pro- 
ductions and  of  the  sublime  conceit  that  must  have  inspired 
them.  But  I  cannot  look  back  without  a  certain  feeling  of 
tender  emotion  upon  the  time  when  I  surrendered  myself  to 
those  poetic  impulses  with  the  hope,  certainly  with  the  desire, 

[?4] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
to  give  in  the  course  of  time,  to  my  fatherland,  something 
valuable  and  lasting. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  these  literary  efforts  absorbed 
much  of  the  time  that  should  have  been  devoted  to  other  studies. 
In  the  first  years  at  the  gymnasium  I  had  always  received,  in 
the  semi-annual  examinations,  the  highest  marks.  I  sacrificed 
these  to  my  literary  work,  inasmuch  as  in  some  branches  of 
instruction,  especially  in  mathematics  and  natural  science,  I 
did  only  what  was  rigorously  exacted  of  me. 

My  life  outside  of  school  was  simple  in  the  extreme  and 
afforded  me  every  opportunity  to  practise  the  virtue  of 
frugality.  My  pocket-money  allowance  was  very  small;  some- 
times I  had  none  at  all ;  neither  can  I  remember  ever  to 
have  asked  my  parents  for  any  money.  They  thought  of  it 
themselves  and  put  a  pittance  into  my  pocket  when,  after  my 
vacation,  I  returned  to  Cologne,  or  when  they  visited  me  there. 
Frequently  I  managed  to  get  along  for  weeks  with  the  sum 
of  five  groschen  (twelve  and  a  half  cents).  The  occasional 
possession  of  a  thaler  (seventy-two  cents)  gave  me  the  sensa- 
tion of  wealth.  Even  when  I  had  nothing,  which  sometimes 
happened,  I  never  felt  poor.  This  mental  habit,  acquired  early 
in  life  without  much  reflection,  has  subsequently  proved  of 
great  value  to  me.  It  has  spared  me  much  heart-burning.  I 
have  always  had  to  associate  with  persons  possessing  more 
than  myself  of  the  so-called  good  things  of  life — persons  that 
could  allow  themselves  many  enjoyments  that  I  had  to  do 
without.  To  this  I  accustomed  myself,  and  I  did  it  without 
the  slightest  self -depreciation  or  envy.  Among  all  human 
passions  envy  is  the  one  that  makes  a  man  the  most  miserable. 
Of  course  I  do  not  mean  by  envy  the  mere  wish  to  possess  de- 
sirable things  which  we  see  others  possessing,  for  such  wishes 
are  legitimate  and  not  foreign  to  the  noblest  ambition.  The 

[75] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
envy  I  speak  of  is  that  jealous  ill-will  which  begrudges  others 
what  they  possess,  and  which  would  destroy  their  enjoyment 
of  it.  A  long  life  has  convinced  me  that  the  truest  and  most 
beautiful  happiness  of  the  human  soul  consists  in  the  joyous 
contemplation  of  the  happiness  of  others.  The  envious,  con- 
sciously or  unconsciously,  wish  to  deprive  others  of  that  which 
makes  them  happy;  and  this  is,  of  all  imaginable  dispositions 
of  the  mind  and  heart,  the  most  wretched.  Education  can 
render  young  people  no  better  service  than  to  teach  them  how 
to  make  their  pleasures  independent  of  money.  This  is  far 
easier  than  we  commonly  suppose.  It  requires  only  that  we 
learn  to  appreciate  the  various  good  things  which  cost  nothing 
and  some  of  which  are  offered  by  almost  every  environment. 
In  this  way  we  discover  how  many  enjoyments  there  are  in 
life  which  usually  remain  hidden  to  those  who  are  in  the  habit 
of  purchasing  their  pleasures  with  silver  and  gold. 

Although  during  my  boyhood  my  means  were  extremely 
limited,  my  opportunities  for  enjoyment,  even  in  aesthetic  direc- 
tions, were  by  no  means  few.  I  have  already  told  how  I 
went  to  the  theater,  not  very  often,  but  finding  all  the  more 
pleasure  in  it  the  few  times  I  could  go.  There  were  other 
opportunities  no  less  valuable.  On  Sunday  mornings  some- 
times I  spent  hours  in  the  Walraff  Gallery,  some  rooms  of 
which  were  filled  with  pictures  of  the  old  Cologne  school. 
Although  I  was  then  unable  to  appreciate  their  historic  and 
artistic  value,  they  attracted  me  greatly  by  their  splendor 
of  color  and  naivete  of  composition.  Particularly  I  recall  a 
"  Last  Judgment,"  in  which  the  humorous  grimaces  and  sar- 
donic smiles  of  a  number  of  fantastic  red,  blue,  and  green 
devils  amused  me  immensely.  For  many  an  hour  I  stood  in 
dreamy  contemplation  before  the  "  Sorrowing  Jews  on  the 
Waters  of  Babylon,"  by  Bendemann,  a  celebrated  painter  of 

[76] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
the  Diisseldorf  school.  As  is  usual,  the  boy  in  me  was  first 
fascinated  by  the  subject  of  the  picture,  until  repeated  scru- 
tiny gradually  stirred  my  critical  faculty  and  developed  my 
taste  as  to  composition  and  execution. 

Nor  were  opportunities  for  musical  delight  wanting.  On 
Sunday  morning  the  so-called  "  Musical  Mass  "  was  celebrated 
in  the  cathedral,  at  which  frequently  the  archbishop  officiated 
and  the  church  displayed  its  splendor.  The  principal  charm  of 
the  service  was  the  music,  which  attracted  not  alone  the  devout, 
but  also  the  art-loving  public.  A  full  orchestra  and  a  choir  of 
selected  voices  rendered  a  Mass  by  some  celebrated  composer. 
These  performances  were  sometimes  of  singularly  marvelous 
effect.  I  have  already  mentioned  that  the  cathedral  at  that 
period  resembled  a  ruin  as  to  its  exterior.  This  was  also  true 
in  great  measure  of  the  inside.  Upon  passing  through  the  time- 
worn  portals  into  the  middle  nave  one  was  confronted  at  a 
distance,  just  beyond  the  transept,  by  a  bare,  gray  wall  shutting 
off  the  choir  from  the  rest  of  the  cathedral;  this  was  the  back 
of  the  great  organ,  placed  temporarily  in  this  position  be- 
cause the  choir  was  the  only  really  completed  portion  of  the 
edifice.  The  organ  therefore  stood,  so  to  speak,  with  its  back  to 
the  larger  part  of  the  church.  On  the  platform  in  front  of  the 
organ,  facing  the  choir,  were  placed  the  orchestra  and  the  sing- 
ers. Thus  the  people  standing  in  that  part  of  the  church 
between  the  back  of  the  organ  and  the  portals  heard  the  music 
not  directly,  but  as  an  echo  wonderfully  broken.  The  forest 
of  pillars  and  the  arches  high  as  heaven,  carried  it  back  as  from 
a  far  distance,  aye,  as  from  another  world.  It  was  a  mysterious 
waving  and  weaving  and  surging  and  rolling  of  sound;  the 
violins  and  'cellos,  and  flutes  and  oboes,  like  the  whispering 
and  sighing  of  the  spring  winds  in  the  treetops;  the  trumpets 
and  trombones  and  the  mighty  chorus  now  and  then  like  the 

[77] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
roaring  of  the  storm  and  the  raging  of  the  sea.  Sometimes 
the  echoes  seemed  to  be  silent  for  a  moment  and  a  melody  or 
a  succession  of  harmonies  would  ring  clear  through  the  im- 
mense space;  or  a  soprano  solo  would  detach  itself  from  the 
magic  confusion  and  float  upon  the  air  like  an  angel's  voice. 
The  effect  was  indescribably  touching,  and  I  remember  how, 
not  seldom,  I  stood  leaning  against  one  of  the  gigantic  col- 
umns and  something  like  devout  tremors  passed  over  me, 
and  my  eyes  filled  with  tears.  This,  I  thought,  must  be  what 
I  had  heard  called  the  "  Music  of  the  Spheres,"  or  the  "  Con- 
cert of  the  Children  of  Heaven,"  as  I  had  seen  depicted  on 
the  old  canvases  of  the  Walraff  Museum. 

Sunday  noon  afforded  still  another  treat.  A  part  of  the 
garrison  paraded  on  the  Neumarkt,  and  its  excellent  band 
played  martial  strains  for  the  changing  guard,  afterwards  en- 
tertaining the  public  with  a  well-selected  programme.  Their 
repertoire  being  large,  these  military  concerts  helped  not  a 
little  to  increase  my  musical  knowledge. 

The  talks  with  my  much  traveled  friend,  Professor  Piitz, 
together  with  books  on  architecture  lent  by  him,  excited  in  me 
an  interest  in  ancient  and  mediaeval  architecture,  and  many 
happy  hours  were  spent  in  studying  the  middle-age  structures 
of  religious  and  secular  character  of  which  Cologne  is  justly 
proud.  My  artistic  studies  were  therefore  by  no  means  incon- 
siderable, although  I  had  to  confine  myself  to  such  as  were 
accessible  without  cost. 

Free  afternoons  were  usually  passed  with  my  friends. 
Besides  reading  aloud,  we  philosophised  together  on  every- 
thing above  and  below  with  that  gravity  characteristic  of 
young,  ardent  and  somewhat  precocious  persons.  Sometimes 
I  went  to  my  uncle's  house  at  Lind,  a  half-hour's  walk  from 
Cologne,  to  visit  two  cousins  of  about  my  own  age.  They  were 

[78] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
dear  comrades.  As  they  were  not  to  prepare  themselves  for 
any  learned  profession,  but  were  to  be  farmers,  like  their 
father,  I  had  not  so  many  interests  in  common  with  them  as 
with  my  other  friends;  but  they  were  boys  of  mental  activity, 
excellent  disposition  and  chivalrous  spirits,  and  we  amused 
ourselves  together  to  our  hearts'  content.  When  the  weather  was 
bad  we  now  and  then  resorted  to  a  game  of  cards.  And  here, 
in  order  to  be  entirely  faithful  to  truth,  I  must  mention  an 
occurrence  which  will  prove  that  my  youth  was  by  no  means 
free  from  serious  blemish. 

At  first  we  played  cards  merely  for  the  sake  of  passing 
time.  Then  as  the  taste  for  it  grew,  we  staked  small  sums  of 
money  to  increase  the  interest  and  excitement,  which  it  did  most 
effectually.  The  stakes  were  very  small  indeed,  but  the  chang- 
ing fortune  in  winning  and  losing  stimulated  the  gambling 
passion  until  finally  a  catastrophe  occurred.  One  particular 
afternoon  I  happened  to  have  the  money  in  my  pocket  with 
which  to  pay  my  tuition  fees,  which  were  due  in  a  few  days. 
I  lost  steadily  in  the  game  and  was  so  carried  away  that  at  last 
I  took  out  of  my  pocket  the  money  entrusted  to  me  by  my 
parents.  Of  course,  with  it  I  expected  to  win  back  all  that  I 
had  lost.  We  played  on  feverishly,  but  luck  would  not  turn, 
and  at  last  the  entire  sum  of  the  tuition  fee  was  swept  away. 
It  amounted  only  to  a  very  few  thalers,  and  my  cousins  helped 
me  out  of  my  immediate  embarrassment;  but  my  horror  at 
what  had  happened  was  so  great,  my  consciousness  of  guilt 
so  painful,  and  the  sense  of  mortification  so  acute — for  I  con- 
sidered myself,  and  with  reason,  to  be  a  criminal — that  the 
inward  suffering  of  those  days,  especially  when  I  made  a  con- 
fession to  my  parents,  has  ever  remained  in  my  memory  as  a 
terrible  lesson.  I  had  gone  through  a  very  serious  experience 
with  myself.  In  playing  for  stakes  the  desire  to  win  money 

[79] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
had  really  not  been  my  impelling  motive,  but  the  evil  fascina- 
tion which  the  demon  of  fortune  always  possesses  had  led 
me  to  commit  an  act  which,  committed  under  less  favorable 
circumstances,  and  upon  a  larger  scale,  might  have  ruined 
my  character  irretrievably.  Card-playing  for  money  is  often 
classed  among  the  aristocratic  passions;  but  I  believe  there  is 
no  form  of  amusement  which,  when  it  becomes  a  real  passion, 
is  so  dangerous  even  to  nobly  cast  natures.  It  was  perhaps 
very  fortunate  in  my  own  case  that  this  lesson  came  so  early 
in  life  and  appeared  in  so  drastic  a  shape. 

Gay  days  we  had  during  our  summer  vacations  at  home 
in  Liblar.  A  crowd  of  cousins  from  various  places  found  them- 
selves together,  reinforced  by  friends  from  Cologne.  That  was 
the  time  for  merry  pranks,  which,  as  it  seemed,  gave  as  much 
pleasure  to  the  old  members  of  the  family  as  to  the  young. 
One  occurrence  of  my  vacation  life  has  remained  especially 
vivid  in  memory.  In  a  German  village  the  "  studying  "  boy, 
as  he  is  called,  is  always  regarded  with  interest  and  wonder, 
and  upon  the  occasion  of  his  visits  family  and  friends  are  apt 
to  take  a  pardonable  pride  in  displaying  his  attainments.  So 
it  was  with  me.  My  father,  who  could  not  produce  much  effect 
upon  his  villagers  with  my  Latin  and  Greek,  took  great  de- 
light in  showing  off  my  musical  proficiency,  especially  my 
ability  to  improvise.  He  succeeded  in  persuading  the  old  or- 
ganist, a  feeble  musician,  but  one  free  from  all  artistic  jeal- 
ousy, to  allow  me  to  play  a  voluntary  at  the  Sunday  morning 
service.  Once  on  a  festive  day  when  Count  Metternich  and 
his  family  occupied  their  private  chapel  attached  to  the  church, 
andr  the  congregation  happened  to  be  exceptionally  large,  I 
felt  it  incumbent  upon  me  to  do  something  extraordinary.  So 
at  the  close  of  the  mass  I  pulled  out  all  the  stops  and  played  a 
military  march  that  I  had  heard  at  one  of  the  parades  at  Co- 

[80] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
logne  with  such  effect  that  the  departing  congregation  stood 
still  in  astonishment.  Even  the  count  stepped  out  from  his 
chapel  to  see  what  was  the  matter.  This  was  the  climax  of 
my  musical  career  as  an  organist,  which  soon  came  to  an  ab- 
rupt end.  One  Sunday  at  vesper  service  I  accompanied  the 
choir,  consisting  of  the  sacristan  and  four  other  singers.  It 
was  the  organist's  custom  to  play  a  short  interlude  between  the 
alternate  verses  of  the  hymn.  This  gave  me  an  opportunity 
to  give  my  faculty  of  improvising  full  swing.  Beginning  in 
the  key  in  which  the  hymn  was  being  sung,  I  moved  up  a  tierce, 
intending  to  return  to  the  original  key  by  means  of  a  bold 
transition.  But  the  sacristan  and  the  choir  were  hot  accus- 
tomed to  such  antics.  They  resumed  their  song  in  the  higher 
key,  shrieking  themselves  red  in  the  face  until  the  veins  of  their 
foreheads  and  temples  threatened  to  burst.  At  the  close  of  the 
service  the  sacristan  declared  with  unmistakable  emphasis  that 
he  would  have  no  more  improvising  and  thorough  bass;  that 
this  nonsense  must  stop,  and  that  for  his  part  he  liked  the 
old  organist  far  the  better  of  the  two.  Thus  was  my  glory  as  a 
performer  on  the  organ  in  Liblar  forever  gone. 

In  another  field  an  ambitious  wish  of  mine  found  its 
fulfillment.  I  became  a  member  of  the  Sanct  Sebastianus  So- 
ciety, and  resolved  to  take  part  in  the  annual  bird-shooting. 
Having  learned  very  early  how  to  handle  a  rifle,  I  had  myself 
inscribed  in  the  list,  and  offered  to  several  members,  male  and 
female,  to  shoot  for  them;  and  the  offers  were  accepted.  The 
casting  of  bullets  on  the  Saturady  before  Whitsuntide  was 
one  of  the  most  solemn  acts  of  my  life ;  and  when  I  woke  with 
sunrise  on  Whitsun  Monday  I  felt  as  if  for  me  a  day  of  great 
decision  had  dawned.  I  have  already  described  the  different 
features  of  that  popular  festival.  With  profound  seriousness 
on  this  occasion  I  marched  behind  the  old  bow-legged  drummer 

[81] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
and  the  master-tailor,  our  color-bearer,  in  the  ranks  of  the 
marksmen  to  what  my  heroic  enthusiasm  called  "  the  field  of 
honor " ;  and  when,  after  marching  three  times  around  the 
tree  bearing  the  pole  with  the  wooden  bird,  we  knelt  down  for 
prayer  I  was  one  of  the  most  devout.  Not  one  of  my  first  shots 
missed.  The  bow-legged  drummer  rewarded  me  with  the  cus- 
tomary roll,  and  I  suspect  I  sometimes  looked  around  with  eyes 
that  sought  admiration.  Only  one  shot  more  was  mine,  but  the 
wooden  bird  was  already  much  splintered,  and  with  every 
moment  it  became  more  uncertain  whether  my  last  chance 
would  yet  be  reached.  My  heart  beat  high;  my  last  turn  was 
really  reached,  and  on  the  top  of  the  pole  there  was  only  a 
little  strip  of  wood  left  which  a  well-aimed  bullet  would  surely 
bring  down.  I  raised  the  rifle  to  my  shoulder  with  the  feeling 
as  if  this  shot  would  determine  the  current  of  my  future.  With 
a  mighty  effort  I  kept  cool,  so  that  my  eye  should  be  clear  and 
my  hand  firm.  But  when  I  had  pressed  the  trigger  I  felt 
myself  as  if  in  a  dense  fog;  I  only  heard  how  the  drummer 
furiously  belabored  his  instrument  and  how  the  surrounding 
multitude  shouted.  The  great  deed,  therefore,  was  done.  I  had 
"  shot  down  the  bird."  I  was  king.  Not  far  from  me  stood 
my  father;  he  laughed  aloud  and  evidently  was  extremely 
proud.  Now  the  great  chain  with  the  silver  shields  was  put 
upon  my  shoulder,  a  tall  hat  with  the  old  tinsel  crown  and 
flowers  on  top  was  fixed  upon  my  head.  It  was  a  great  mo- 
ment; but  I  had  won  the  prize  merely  as  a  substitute  for  an- 
other person,  not  for  myself.  Who  was  that  person?  A  Sanct 
Sebastianus  sister,  an  old  washerwoman.  She  was  brought 
forward  and  also  adorned  with  ribbons  and  flowers.  I  was 
obliged  to  offer  her  my  arm  as  my  queen,  and  so  we  marched 
solemnly  behind  drum  and  flag  back  into  the  village.  The 
riflemen  made  every  possible  noise  with  their  guns;  the  chil- 
li] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
dren  shouted,  and  the  old  people  stood  in  their  doorways, 
greeted  me  with  their  hands,  and  called  out:  "  See  the  Schurz 
Karl!"  But  I  felt  as  if  we  two,  the  old  washerwoman  and 
myself,  presented  a  decidedly  grotesque  spectacle  in  that  tri- 
umphant procession,  which  in  my  imagination  had  always  been 
such  a  solemn  affair.  I  thought  I  even  saw  some  people  in- 
dulge in  a  mocking  smile  about  our  unquestionably  ridiculous 
appearance.  But  worse  than  this — I  noticed  on  the  faces  of 
some  of  the  old  marksmen  something  like  an  expression  of 
disapproval;  my  ear  caught  a  remark  that  it  was,  after  all, 
not  quite  proper  to  make  the  Schiitzenfest  of  the  venerable 
old  Sanct  Sebastianus  Society  a  boy's  play.  I  could  not  deny 
within  myself  that  this  view  of  the  case  was  not  unjustified; 
and  thus  in  the  hour  of  that  triumph  which  I  had  so  often 
pictured  in  my  dreams,  a  heavy  drop  of  bitterness  fell  into 
the  cup.  It  was  the  old,  old  experience,  at  that  time  still  new 
to  me,  that  we  seldom  are  blessed  with  success  or  joy  without 
some  bitter  admixture,  and  that  the  fulfillment  of  a  wish 
usually  looks  very  different  from  anticipation;  and  this  expe- 
rience has  been  repeated  in  my  life  again  and  again. 

In  the  meantime  dark  clouds  were  gathering  over  our 
home.  My  grandfather's  retirement  from  the  Burg  had  been 
followed  by  evil  consequences;  it  was  as  if  the  firm  ground 
had  been  taken  from  under  our  feet.  The  proceeds  of  the 
sale  of  the  inventory  had  been  entrusted  to  my  youngest  uncle 
for  investment.  He  groped  about  for  a  considerable  time  and 
finally  hit  at  the  idea  of  trading  in  grain.  In  connection  with 
this  plan  my  father,  who  was  in  need  of  a  larger  income  than 
his  little  hardware  business  yielded,  decided  to  erect  a  building 
of  which  the  ground  floor  was  to  be  a  large  amusement  hall 
and  the  upper  story  a  granary.  In  one  of  his  many  books  he 
had  read  the  description  of  some  new  method  of  construction 

[83] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
which  caught  his  fancy  and  which  had  the  charm  of  novelty. 
The  building  was  successfully  erected,  but  it  cost  far  more 
than  had  been  anticipated.  It  appeared  also  that  the  festive 
occasions  proved  too  few  to  make  the  letting  of  the  amuse- 
ment hall  profitable,  and  the  granary  yielded  even  less.  My 
uncle's  grain  business  soon  became  highly  speculative  and  he 
promised  himself  mountains  of  gold  from  it.  When  he  drifted 
into  embarrassment,  of  course  his  brothers  and  brothers-in-law 
came  to  the  rescue,  thus  involving  themselves  also  in  affairs 
of  which  not  one  of  them  had  any  knowledge.  My  uncle 
Jacob,  the  burgomaster  of  Julich,  had  indeed  good  qualities 
as  a  merchant;  he  was  painstaking,  orderly  and  exact,  but 
the  quick  calculation  of  chance,  the  instinct  of  the  trader, 
he,  too,  lacked  entirely.  So  with  my  father;  he  was  far  more 
interested  in  his  scientific  books  than  in  his  ledger.  Often  I 
recall  seeing  him  at  his  desk  with  a  disorderly  pile  of  papers 
before  him  and  a  helpless,  impatient  expression  on  his  face. 
Sometimes  he  would  then  rise  abruptly,  push  the  papers  into 
the  desk,  crowd  them  down  with  both  elbows,  and  drop  the 
lid  upon  their  wild  confusion.  The  various  members  of  our 
family  came  to  one  another's  financial  assistance  so  often  that 
after  a  little  while  not  one  of  them  knew  accurately  the  con- 
dition of  his  own  or  of  their  common  affairs.  To  bring  order 
out  of  chaos  they  would  occasionally  meet  at  Liblar  for  the 
purpose  of  talking  over  business  matters  and  "  settling  up." 
But  this  would  have  required  the  saying  of  many  disagree- 
able things  from  which  each  in  his  amiability  and  brotherly 
affection  recoiled.  By  way  of  beginning  they  would  sit  down 
together  to  a  comfortable  repast  and  recall  happy  bygone 
times;  gradually  the  proposed  business  conference  faded  out 
of  view;  they  ate  and  drank  and  were  so  happy  together  that  it 
would  have  been  a  pity  to  disturb  all  by  alluding  to  unpleasant 

[84] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
subjects.  After  this  had  gone  on  for  a  day,  or  even  a  few 
days,  they  remembered  that  it  was  high  time  for  them  to  return 
home ;  then  they  took  leave  in  the  most  touching  manner,  kissed 
one  another,  sometimes  even  shedding  tears  at  the  parting,  and 
each  one  went  his  way  without  having  talked  of  the  business 
matters  which  had  brought  them  together.  Of  course  their 
affairs  drifted  from  worse  to  worse,  and  some  further  daring 
grain  speculations  only  served  to  hasten  on  the  final  disaster. 

My  father  was  not  directly  implicated  in  those  specula- 
tions, but  he  could  not  keep  from  getting  entangled  in  the 
difficulties  which  sprung  from  them.  Although  youth  is  in- 
clined to  take  matters  of  business  lightly,  I  became  gradually 
aware  that  my  parents  were  often  in  pressing  need  of  money, 
and  I  began  to  share  their  anxieties.  I  myself  raised  the  ques- 
tion whether  it  would  be  possible  for  them  to  keep  me  any 
longer  at  the  gymnasium.  This  was  quickly  answered  by  my 
obtaining  a  fellowship  which  covered  a  large  part  of  my  ex- 
penses; and  besides  I  resolved  to  tutor  junior  pupils,  thus 
earning  the  rest  of  the  money  needed.  I  threw  myself  into 
this  new  task  with  eagerness.  The  tuition  fees  amounted  to 
about  six  and  a  half  cents  per  hour,  but  they  were  sufficient  to 
enable  me  to  work  my  way  up  to  the  highest  class  but  one. 

Suddenly  my  parents  were  cheered  by  apparently  more 
hopeful  prospects.  My  father  found  an  opportunity  for  sell- 
ing his  property  in  Liblar  at  a  price  which  would  enable  him 
to  discharge  his  obligations  and  furnish  the  means  for  a  new 
livelihood.  As  soon  as  the  sale  was  concluded  he  removed  with 
the  family  to  Bonn,  where  I  was  to  go  to  the  university  after 
having  absolved  the  gymnasium.  In  Bonn  my  father  made 
arrangements  with  an  old  friend  which  put  him  in  possession 
of  a  spacious  house,  the  lower  part  of  which  was  used  as  a 
restaurant  for  students,  while  in  the  upper  stories  were  several 

[85] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
rooms  to  be  let.  My  friend  Petrasch,  who  meantime  had  been 
matriculated  in  the  university,  took  one  of  them.  All  this 
promised  very  satisfactorily. 

But  then  a  great  misfortune  fell  upon  us.  The  purchaser 
of  the  property  in  Liblar,  with  whom  my  father  had  made  a 
very  imperfect  contract,  declared  that  he  had  become  dissatis- 
fied with  the  arrangement  and  that  he  proposed  to  forfeit  the 
little  sum  paid  in  advance,  and  not  take  the  property.  This 
was  a  hard  blow.  My  father  tried,  unsuccessfully,  to  hold  the 
purchaser  to  the  bargain,  and  no  other  purchaser  could  be 
found.  To  return  to  Liblar  was  impossible,  as  my  father  was 
then  bound  to  his  new  arrangements  in  Bonn.  Now  the  bills 
of  exchange  became  due,  which  in  anticipation  of  the  money 
coming  to  him  from  the  sale  in  Liblar  he  had  given  to  his 
creditors.  He  could  not  meet  them;  the  bills  were  protested, 
and  suddenly  I  received  in  Cologne  the  news  that  some  of  the 
creditors  had  thrown  my  father  into  the  debtors'  prison.  This 
struck  me  like  a  clap  of  thunder.  I  ran  to  the  prison  house  and 
saw  my  father  behind  an  iron  bar.  It  was  a  distressing  meet- 
ing, but  we  endeavored  to  encourage  one  another  as  best  we 
could.  He  explained  to  me  his  circumstances,  and  we  consid- 
ered what  might  best  be  done  to  extricate  him  from  this  humili- 
ating situation. 

I  was  then  seventeen  years  old  and  on  the  point  of  passing 
into  the  highest  class  of  the  gymnasium,  but  evidently  I  could  no 
longer  remain  in  Cologne.  I  hurriedly  took  leave  of  my  teach- 
ers and  friends,  and  devoted  myself  entirely  to  the  affairs  of 
the  family.  My  uncles  would  have  been  glad  to  assist  us,  but 
they  themselves  were  involved  in  grievous  embarrassments. 
Business  matters  were  entirely  foreign  and  repugnant  to  me; 
but  necessity  is  a  wonderful  schoolmaster,  and  I  felt  as  if  in 
a  day  I  had  grown  many  years  older.  After  much  traveling 

[86] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
to  and  fro  I  succeeded  in  making  arrangements  sufficiently- 
satisfactory    to    the    creditors  to  induce  them  to  release  my; 
father.  Those  were  very  dark  days. 

When  my  father  was  thus  enabled  again  to  take  our 
affairs  into  his  own  hands,  the  question  arose,  what  was  to 
become  of  me.  Was  I  to  abandon  my  studies  and  enter  upon 
a  new  course  of  life?  This  idea  was  rejected  at  once;  but 
circumstances  did  not  permit  my  return  to  Cologne.  I  had  to 
remain  with  my  family.  We  therefore  formed  the  bold  plan 
that  I  should  begin  at  once  as  an  irregular  student  to  attend 
lectures  at  the  university,  and  at  the  same  time  to  pursue  those 
studies  which  would  make  it  possible  for  me  to  pass  the  gradua- 
tion examination  in  Cologne  the  next  year.  This  plan  was 
bold  in  so  far  as  it  was  generally  understood  that  when  a  young 
man  left  the  gymnasium  without  having  completed  the  course 
and  then  came  back  to  pass  the  examination  required  for 
regular  standing  at  the  university,  that  examination  was  often 
made  exceptionally  severe  in  order  to  discourage  like  practice. 
But  there  was  no  hesitation  in  attempting  the  difficult  task. 
Meanwhile,  my  mind  had  also  settled  upon  a  calling.  I  was 
fond  of  historic  and  linguistic  studies,  and  believed  I  possessed 
some  literary  capacity.  I  therefore  resolved  to  prepare  myself 
for  a  professorship  of  history,  and  so  began  to  attend  philo- 
logical and  historical  lectures. 

My  passing  from  the  gymnasium  to  the  university  brings 
me  back  to  the  question  already  mentioned,  whether  the  clas- 
sical curriculum  at  the  German  gymnasium,  as  well  as  at  cor- 
responding institutions  in  other  countries,  has  not  become  an- 
tiquated and  unpractical.  Is  it  wise  to  devote  so  large  a  part 
of  the  time  and  of  the  learning-strength  of  boys  to  the  study 
of  the  Latin  and  the  Greek  languages  and  the  classical  litera- 
tures? Would  it  not  be  of  greater  advantage  to  a  young  gen- 

[87] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
eration  to  put  in  place  of  the  Latin  and  Greek  the  study  of 
modern  languages  and  literatures,  the  knowledge  of  which 
would  be  much  more  useful  in  the  practical  business  of  life? 
This  question  is  certainly  entitled  to  serious  consideration. 
Latin  is  no  longer  what  it  was  in  most  of  the  countries  of  the 
so-calTed  civilized  world  down  to  the  beginning  of  the  eight- 
eenth century,  and,  in  some  of  them,  even  to  a  much  more 
recent  period,  the  language  of  diplomacy,  of  jurisprudence, 
of  philosophy,  and  of  all  science.  Not  even  the  ability  to  quote 
Horace  in  conversation  is  any  longer  required  to  give  one  the 
stamp  of  an  educated  man.  The  literatures  of  classical  an- 
tiquity are  no  longer  the  only  ones  in  which  great  creations 
of  poetry  in  perfect  beauty  of  form  are  found,  or  models  of 
historical  writing,  or  of  oratorical  eloquence,  or  of  philosoph- 
ical reasoning.  Of  all  these  things  modern  literatures  contain 
rich  treasures,  and  there  is  also  an  abundance  of  excellent  trans- 
lations to  make  the  masterpieces  of  antiquity  accessible  to 
those  who  do  not  understand  the  classical  tongues. 

And  yet,  when  I  now  in  my  old  days,  and  after  multi- 
farious experiences  of  life,  ask  myself  which  part  of  the  in- 
»,  struction  I  received  in  my  youth  I  would  miss  with  the  most 
regret,  my  answer  would  not  be  doubtful  for  a  single  moment. 
Indeed,  I  have,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  lost  much  of  the  Latin  and 
Greek  that  I  knew  when  I  was  at  the  gymnasium.  But  the 
aesthetic  and  moral  impulses  that  such  studies  gave  me,  the 
ideal  standards  they  helped  me  in  erecting,  the  mental  horizons 
they  opened  to  me,  I  have  never  lost.  Those  studies  are  not  a 
mere  means  for  the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  but,  in  the  best 
sense  of  the  word,  an  element  of  culture.  And  thus  they  have 
remained  to  me  during  my  whole  life  an  inexhaustible  source 
of  elevating  enjoyment  and  inspiration. 

If  once  more  I  had  to  choose  between  the  classical  studies 

[88] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
and  the  so-called  useful  ones  in  their  place,  I  would,  for  myself 
at  least,  undoubtedly  on  the  whole  elect  the  same  curriculum 
that  I  have  gone  through.  I  would  do  this  the  more  readily 
as  in  all  probability  I  should  never  have  been  able  to  begin  or 
resume  the  classical  studies  had  I  not  enjoyed  them  in  my 
youth,  and  as  the  knowledge  of  the  ancient  languages  has 
been  of  inestimable  value  to  me  in  acquiring  the  modern  ones 
in  later  life.  He  who  understands  Latin  will  not  only  learn 
French,  and  English,  and  Spanish,  and  Italian,  and  Portu- 
guese much  more  easily,  but  also  much  better.  I  can  say  of 
myself  that  I  have  in  fact  studied  only  the  Latin  grammar 
quite  thoroughly,  but  that  this  knowledge  has  divested  my 
grammatical  studies  in  modern  Latin  and  Germanic  lan- 
guages of  all  wearisome  difficulty.  Therefore,  while  I  recog- 
nize the  title  of  the  utility  argument,  now  so  much  in  vogue, 
to  our  serious  consideration,  I  cannot  but  confess  that  I  per- 
sonally owe  to  the  old  classical  courses  very  much  that  was 
good  and  beautiful,  and  that  I  would  not  forego. 

To  be  a  student  at  the  university  is  the  most  entrancing 
dream  of  the  German  gymnasium  boy.  It  had  been  mine. 
Now  I  was  at  the  university.  But  how?  As  a  mere  intruder 
who  had  still  to  win  his  right  to  academic  citizenship  through  a 
difficult  examination  still  to  pass;  as  a  person  of  questionable 
standing  hardly  relieved  of  a  most  humiliating  situation, 
troubled  by  bitter  cares,  with  very  uncertain  prospects  before 
me.  Thus  it  happened  to  me  that  what  I  had  hoped  for  came 
to  me  in  depressing  form.  The  wish  could  hardly  be  recog- 
nized in  the  appearance  of  the  fulfillment. 


[89] 


CHAPTER  IV 

ALTHOUGH  not  yet  regularly  immatriculated  at  the 
university  at  Bonn,  I  received  a  warm  welcome  from  a  group 
of  fine  young  men,  the  Burschenschaft  Franconia — one  of 
that  class  of  students'  associations  which  after  the  wars  of  liber- 
ation of  1813,  '14  and  '15  had  been  organized  at  various  Ger- 
man universities,  in  obedience  to  a  patriotic  impulse.  My  ad- 
mission to  this  fellowship  I  owed  to  my  Cologne  friends, 
Petrasch  and  von  Weise,  who  had  preceded  me  at  the 
university  and  had  spoken  a  good  word  for  me  to  their  breth- 
ren of  the  Pranconia  society,  probably  with  an  exaggerated 
account  of  my  literary  capabilities.  This  I  discovered  upon 
the  occasion  of  my  first  appearance  at  the  Franconia  "  Kneipe," 
when  it  was  the  evident  intention  of  both  my  friends  to 
make  a  show  of  my  talents.  But  I  was  at  that  time  an 
extremely  bashful  youth,  always  silent  and  awkward  in  the 
presence  of  strangers.  I  shall  never  forget  the  feeling  of 
utter  helplessness  that  came  over  me  when  Petrasch  introduced 
me  to  the  presiding  officer  of  the  society,  Johannes  Overbeck, 
a  self-poised  young  man  several  years  my  senior,  and  a  bril- 
liant student  who  had  already  published  a  volume  of  original 
poems.  All  this  I  knew  and  it  had  impressed  me  greatly.  In 
answer  to  the  friendly  greeting  he  gave  me  I  blushed  and 
stammered  and  only  managed  to  articulate  an  occasional  yes 
or  no.  I  was  quite  conscious  of  the  sorry  figure  I  was  cutting, 
and  what  was  worse,  aware  that  Petrasch  and  Weise  were 
disappointed  and  ashamed  of  me.  It  was  the  first  occasion  in 
life  when  I  was  brought  in  contact  with  men  from  other  parts 

[90] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
of  Germany;  and  they,  especially  the  North-Germans,  had 
something  superior  and  deliberate  in  their  ways  that  greatly 
impressed  me. 

My  irregular  standing  at  the  university  did  not  permit  me 
to  be  received  as  a  full  member  into  the  Franconia,  but  I  was 
admitted  as  a  guest  to  their  convivial  meetings.  For  a  long 
time  I  sat  a  mute  spectator  at  the  jovial  gatherings  of  my 
friends,  but  finally  my  hour  came.  One  of  the  principal  events 
of  the  convivial  evenings  was  the  reading  aloud  of  the  Kneip- 
zeitung, a  humorous  paper,  written  and  read  in  turn  by  dif- 
ferent members.  To  write  a  good  Kneipzeitung  was  the  object 
of  general  ambition,  and  those  papers  not  seldom  possessed 
decided  literary  merit.  As  I  sat  or  moved,  a  quiet  observer 
among  my  friends,  abundant  opportunity  was  afforded  me  to 
study  the  peculiarities  of  my  new  companions.  My  observa- 
tion finally  took  form  in  a  parody  of  the  "  Auerbach  cellar 
scene  "  in  "  Faust,"  in  which  I  made  the  leading  members  of  the 
Franconia  the  dramatis  persona?.  The  satire  was  pointed, 
though  of  course  not  ill-natured.  When  I  had  finished  the 
composition  I  showed  it  in  confidence  to  Petrasch.  He  shouted 
with  delight,  and  was  certain  that  nothing  better  had  ever  been 
written  by  any  member  of  the  society.  This  of  course  I  refused 
to  believe,  but  yielded  to  his  entreaties  that  I  turn  it  into  a 
Kneipzeitung  and  that  he  should  be  the  one  to  read  it  aloud  at 
the  next  reunion.  I  insisted  that  he  keep  its  authorship  strictly 
secret,  which  he  promised.  When  finally  the  evening  came  for 
its  presentation  my  heart  was  in  my  throat,  and  my  face  red 
with  blushes,  as  the  assembled  company  burst  into  repeated 
laughter  and  applause.  The  success  of  the  paper  was  com- 
plete. Petrasch  declared  that  the  writer  wished  to  remain  un- 
known, but  with  this  the  audience  would  not  rest  content.  Of 
course  nobody  suspected  me.  My   friend,   as  proud  of  the 

[91] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
achievement  as  if  it  had  been  his  own,  winked  at  me  across  the 
table  and  whispered  audibly,  "May  I  not  tell?"  This  alone 
would  have  been  sufficient  to  betray  me,  but  another  member 
sitting  near  recognized  my  handwriting.  And  now  there  was 
a  great  hurrah.  From  all  sides  they  rushed  upon  me ;  there  was 
no  end  of  congratulation  and  handshaking;  and  Petrasch, 
looking  around  at  the  assembled  company,  called  out:  "  There, 
now,  what  did  I  tell  you?  " 

It  has  always  been  a  relief  to  me  that  the  poetic  produc- 
tions of  my  youth  somehow  disappeared;  but  I  confess  that  I 
would  like  very  much  to  see  this  one  again,  for  at  the  time  it 
rendered  me  an  inestimable  service.  Its  success  aroused  my 
dormant  self-reliance  and  transformed  me  from  an  awkward 
country  lad,  who  was  in  a  good  way  to  remain  a  ridiculous 
figure,  into  a  respectable  and  respected  young  man.  My  shy- 
ness rapidly  ceased  in  the  intercourse  with  my  comrades,  and 
many  delightful  friendships  were  the  outcome  of  it  all. 

Much  time  I  could  indeed  not  give  to  my  friends  during 
my  first  university  year  at  Bonn,  for  the  graduation  examina- 
tions at  the  Cologne  gymnasium,  upon  which  my  whole  future 
depended,  were  still  ahead,  and  they  ever  stood  before  me  like 
a  threatening  specter.  Aside  from  the  historical  and  philolog- 
ical lectures  by  Aschbach  and  Ritschl,  which  I  attended,  I  had 
to  acquire  all  that  was  taught  in  the  upper  class  of  the  gymna- 
sium by  way  of  self-instruction,  and  with  the  exception  of 
higher  mathematics  and  of  natural  science  I  succeeded  in  doing 
this,  but,  of  course,  not  without  much  labor.  At  last,  in  Sep- 
tember, 1847,  the  crisis  came,  and  I  journeyed  to  Cologne, 
accompanied  by  the  prayers  of  my  family  and  the  cordial 
wishes  of  all  good  friends.  Fortune  favored  me  again,  and  all 
went  well.  I  knew  the  sixth  canto  of  the  Iliad  by  heart,  and 
it  so  happened  that  the  examiner  in  Greek  gave  me  a  part  of 

[92  1 


ue 


v; 


'TV 


£fORNVb 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
that  canto  to  translate,  which  I  could  do  without  looking  at  the 
book.  In  addition  to  this,  the  result  of  my  examination  in  his- 
tory and  my  compositions  in  German  and  Latin  were  suffi- 
ciently satisfactory  to  move  the  examiners  to  overlook  my 
weakness  in  other  branches.  Upon  the  conclusion  of  the  ordeal 
the  government  commissioner,  who  had  before  seemed  to  me 
the  personification  of  grim  fate,  handed  me  my  graduation 
papers  with  an  especially  cordial  handshake,  and  he  gave  me 
many  good  wishes  for  future  success  on  my  way.  I  returned 
to  Bonn  in  triumph. 

Now  at  last,  as  a  regularly  matriculated  student,  I  could 
take  equal  rank  with  my  university  friends.  With  ardor  and 
with  a  feeling  of  assurance  I  threw  myself  into  philological 
and  historical  studies,  looking  with  greater  calmness  into  the 
future,  in  which  I  pictured  myself  as  a  professor  of  his- 
tory at  some  German  university,  devoting  some  of  my  time 
to  literary  work.  I  hoped  that  now  the  severest  storms  of  life 
were  behind  me,  and  that  I  might  look  forward  to  a  smooth 
career  which  would  satisfy  all  my  ambitions.  How  little  did  I 
dream  of  the  strange  vicissitudes  of  fortune  which  were  soon 
to  scatter  all  these  plans  and  to  hurl  me  into  currents  of  life 
entirely  different  from  those  which  I  had  anticipated ! 

The  cheerfulness  of  temperament  with  which  benign  na- 
ture had  endowed  me  and  the  capacity  of  frugal  enjoyment 
which  the  conditions  of  my  early  youth  had  developed  in  me, 
rendered  me  highly  susceptible  to  the  fascination  of  free 
student-life.  Again  fortune  had  greatly  favored  me  in  open- 
ing to  me  at  the  very  entrance  into  the  academic  world  access  to 
a  most  stimulating  circle  of  young  men. 

Friedrich  Spielhagen,  in  his  memoirs,  says  that  the  Bursch- 
enschaf  t  Franconia  was  in  a  sense  the  most  distinguished  among 
the  student  societies  of  that  day.  And  this  it  was  indeed.  To 

[93] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
be  sure,  it  did  not  count  among  its  members  scions  of  noble 
houses  nor  men  of  exceptional  wealth.  At  any  rate  rank 
and  wealth  did  not  count.  But  its  scientific  and  literary 
tone  was  marked,  and  many  of  its  members  later  made  a  name 
for  themselves  in  various  walks  of  life.  Among  these  were 
Johannes  Overbeck,  the  archaeologist,  of  whom  it  has  been  said 
that  he  wrote  the  best  book  that  has  ever  been  written  on  Her- 
culaneum  and  Pompeii,  without  ever  having  seen  either  spot; 
Julius  Schmidt,  an  astronomer,  who  gave  to  the  world  various 
works  of  great  scientific  value,  and  died  as  director  of  the 
astronomical  observatory  at  Athens ;  Carl  Otto  Weber,  of  Bre- 
men, a  young  man  of  rare  brightness  of  mind  and  the  most 
charming  sweetness  of  character,  whose  distinguished  merit 
gave  him  a  professorship  of  medicine  at  Heidelberg,  where, 
like  a  soldier  in  battle,  he  died  of  diphtheritic  poison  in  an  heroic 
effort  to  save  a  human  life;  Ludwig  Meyer,  who  became  an 
expert  in  mental  diseases  and  a  professor  at  Gottingen,  and 
director  of  various  institutions  for  the  insane ;  Adolph  Strodt- 
mann,  the  biographer  of  Heine,  who  also  excelled  as  a  remark- 
ably able  translator  of  French,  English  and  Danish  literature; 
Friedrich  Spielhagen,  in  whom  in  spite  of  his  somewhat  dis- 
tant and  reserved  character  we  all  recognized  a  man  of  rare 
intellectuality  and  moral  elevation,  and  who  later  became  a 
star  of  the  first  magnitude  among  the  novelists  of  the  century. 
There  were  several  other  young  men  of  uncommon  capacity 
and  sound  ambition  who  afterwards  rose  to  honorable  if  less 
conspicuous  positions  in  life. 

Although  in  this  company  there  was  earnest  and  hard 
work  done,  its  members  were  neither  priggish  nor  did  they  lack 
youthful  exuberance  of  spirits.  But  these  spirits  only  very 
seldom  degenerated  into  those  excesses  which  usually  pass  as 
characteristic  of  German  student-life.  There  were  indeed  a 

[94] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
few  capable  of  great  things  in  beer-drinking.  But  beer-drink- 
ing was  not  cultivated  as  a  fine  art,  in  the  exercise  of  which  one 
had  to  seek  honorable  distinction.  Nor  would  he  who  was  tem- 
perate be  exposed  to  any  want  of  respect  or  derision.  Modera- 
tion was  the  rule,  and  he  who  broke  that  rule  too  often  made 
himself  liable  to  a  reprimand  or  even  expulsion.  Neither  did 
we  take  part  in  the  practice  of  dueling,  in  which  various  corps 
at  German  universities  sought  then  as  now  their  glory.  I  can 
recollect  but  two  cases  during  my  time  at  Bonn  that  a  member 
of  the  Franconia  fought  a  duel,  and  of  those  we  were  by  no 
means  proud.  There  is  probably  no  civilized  people  to-day, 
except,  perhaps,  the  French,  in  which  enlightened  public  opin- 
ion does  not  look  upon  and  condemn  dueling  as  a  remnant  of 
medieval  barbarity.  While  excuses  may  sometimes  be  offered 
in  cases  of  exceptional  insult,  it  is  no  longer  accepted  as  evi- 
dence of  true  courage  nor  as  the  best  means  for  a  man  to  guard 
or  avenge  his  honor;  and  the  professional  duelist  who  by  fre- 
quent encounters  creates  suspicion  that  he  is  wantonly  seeking 
an  opportunity  for  a  fight  wins  rather  the  reputation  of  being 
a  rude  if  not  a  criminal  ruffian  than  the  renown  of  a  hero.  The 
true  gentleman  has  ceased  to  be  ashamed  of  invoking  the  law 
for  the  protection  of  his  own  or  his  family's  or  friends'  honor 
when  that  honor  may  need  protection;  and  the  world  has  be- 
gun to  suspect  the  man  who  for  its  defense  breaks  the  law 
instead  of  appealing  to  it.  Irresistibly  this  view  is  becoming 
public  opinion  among  all  truly  civilized  peoples. 

In  what  light  then,  in  the  face  of  this  public  opinion, 
does  that  portion  of  the  so-called  educated  youth  in  German 
universities  stand,  which,  not  making  even  injured  honor  an 
excuse,  cultivates  the  duel  as  a  form  of  social  amusement,  and 
finds  glory  in  the  number  of  scars  won  in  causeless  combats? 
The  precautionary  measures  customary  at  German  universi- 

[95] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
ties  have  made  an  ordinary  duel  so  harmless  that  usually  noth- 
ing more  than  a  mere  scratch  on  the  face  is  the  result.  To  fight 
in  this  way  requires  no  more  courage  than  to  have  a  tooth 
drawn;  perhaps  not  even  so  much.  As  a  true  test  of  courage, 
therefore,  such  a  duel  cannot  be  regarded.  The  cause  for  it 
mostly  consists  in  nothing  but  some  childish  quarrel,  wantonly 
brought  on  for  the  very  purpose  of  provoking  a  challenge; 
and  the  student  who  in  this  way  disfigures  his  face  with  a  net- 
work of  unsightly  scars  is  truly  foolish  to  think  he  can  pose  as 
a  braver  and  better  man  than  others  who  enjoy  their  youth  in  a 
more  sensible  way  during  the  period  when  they  are  preparing 
themselves  for  the  grave  problems  of  life.  It  is  said  that  the 
duel  prevents  personal  quarrels  from  degenerating  into  vulgar 
brawls  and  fisticuffs,  and  that  the  sword  is  a  more  dignified 
weapon  than  the  fist.  But  this  defense  appears  utterly  unten- 
able when  we  look  at  the  universities  of  other  countries,  where 
dueling  is  practically  unknown  and  where  common  fights  are 
as  infrequent  as  they  are  in  Germany.  It  is  also  asserted  that 
dueling  stimulates  a  nice  sense  of  honor  among  young  people. 
But  what  kind  of  honor  is  this?  Is  it  honorable  to  fight  with- 
out due  cause?  Is  it  honorable  to  treat  with  contempt  those 
who  object  to  dueling  about  silly  nothings?  Is  not  this  so-called 
sense  of  honor  mere  shallow  and  rude  rodomontade?  It  is  in 
fact  nothing  but  the  cultivation  of  an  entirely  false  standard  of 
honor — a  self-deception  very  dangerous  to  young  people,  be- 
cause it  confuses  their  moral  principles,  upon  the  clearness  and 
firmness  of  which  the  character  of  the  true  gentleman  rests. 
Such  a  notion  of  honor  which  consists  only  in  cheap  show  in- 
duces one  too  easily  to  forget  that  the  moral  courage  of  a  man 
who  unflinchingly  and  unselfishly  stands  up  in  the  struggle  of 
opinions  and  of  interests  for  that  which  he  recognizes  as  true 
and  right,  rises  far  above  all  the  glories  of  the  dueling-field 

[96] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
and  all  its  pretended  heroism.  It  is  a  matter  of  experience  that 
not  a  few  of  the  most  bellicose  students,  devoid  of  just  this 
genuine  and  higher  courage,  become  the  most  servile  syco- 
phants of  power  in  later  life,  always  parading  the  scars  on 
their  faces  as  proof  of  their  bravery.  In  this  way  a  class  of 
unprincipled  climbers  has  developed  itself,  which  depends  in 
the  competition  for  place  and  promotion,  not  on  its  real  ability 
and  true  merit,  but  on  social  connections  and  the  protection 
of  the  powerful,  and  which  thus  loses  in  the  matter  of  character 
what  it  wins  in  the  way  of  success. 

Such  were  the  views  about  the  duel  held  in  my  time  by 
the  Franconians,  although  it  is  certain  that  they  were  not  lack- 
ing in  sense  of  honor  nor  of  pride.  Their  principles,  however, 
did  not  keep  them  from  the  fencing  school;  indeed  several  of 
them  would  have  been  conspicuously  able  to  enforce  respect 
sword  in  hand.  I  have  to  confess  that  I  found  especial  pleas- 
ure in  the  fencing  exercises,  and  Spielhagen  praises  me  in  his 
memoirs  "  for  wielding  a  deft  and  powerful  blade." 

In  other  respects  we  followed  the  customs  and  enjoyed 
the  pleasures  of  German  student-life  to  our  hearts'  content. 
We  wore  with  pride  the  society  colors  on  our  caps  and  the 
tricolored  ribbon  across  our  breasts.  We  celebrated  our 
"  commerses  "  and  went  through  all  the  traditional  ceremonies 
with  becoming  solemnity.  We  took  long  rambles  into  the  coun- 
try— and  it  was  no  pedantic  affectation,  but  a  real  outflow  of 
gay  spirits  that  on  such  occasions  some  of  us  who  had  studied 
our  Homer  with  especial  assiduity  conversed  in  homeric  verses, 
which  somehow  we  contrived  to  apply  to  what  we  were  doing 
or  observing.  We  also  indulged  in  delightful  excursions  up 
and  down  the  Rhine  and  into  its  lovely  side-valleys;  and 
blessed  be  the  memory  of  the  innkeepers  who  did  not  demand 
an  immediate  settlement  of  our  accounts;  blessed  above  all, 

[97] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
that  of  the  benign  Nathan  of  Sanct  Goarshausen,  under  the 
shadow  of  the  Loreley-rock,  who  welcomed  every  Franconian 
under  his  roof  as  an  own  child.  Oh,  how  we  reveled  in  the 
poetry  of  those  friendships,  which  more  than  all  else  made 
youthful  years  so  happy!  The  mature  man  should  never  be 
ashamed  of  the  emotions  that  once  moved  him  to  wind  his  arm 
around  his  friend's  shoulder  and  to  dream  of  inseparable 
brotherhood.  Thus  I  shall  never  be  ashamed  of  the  feelings 
which  I  showed  as  exuberantly  as  my  companions,  whenever 
at  the  close  of  the  semester  some  members  dropped  out  of  our 
circle  never  to  return,  and  when  at  leave-taking  our  glasses 
rang  to  the  echo  of  the  farewell  song: 

•    \ 

"  Wohlauf  noch  getruriken 

Den  funkelnden  Wem, 

Ade  nun  Ihr  Lieben, 

Geschieden  muss  sein." 

Even  now  I  cannot  listen  to  this  song  without  a  throb  in 
my  heart,  for  I  see  before  me  the  dear  fellows  as  their  eyes 
filled  at  the  moment  of  parting  and  they  again  and  again 
embraced.  Oh,  these  careless,  sunny,  university  days,  with  their 
ideals  and  enthusiasms,  their  sentimentalities  and  their  felici- 
ties! How  soon  they  were  to  be  overshadowed  for  me  by  the 
bitter  earnestness  of  life ! 

It  was  at  the  beginning  of  the  winter  semester  of  1847-8, 
at  Bonn,  that  I  made  the  acquaintance  of  Professor  Gottfried 
Kinkel — an  acquaintance  which  for  my  later  years  became  one 
of  fateful  consequence.  Kinkel  delivered  lectures  on  literature 
and  art-history,  some  ©f  which  I  attended.  I  also  participated 
in  his  course  of  rhetorical  exercises.  This  brought  me  into 
close  personal  contact  with  him.  He  was  at  the  time  when  I  first 

[98] 


PROF.     GOTTFRIED     KINKEL 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
knew  him  thirty-two  years  of  age;  the  son  of  an  evangelical 
minister  stationed  in  a  village  on  the  Rhine,  and  he  himself 
also  to  be  educated  for  the  church.  To  this  end  he  visited  the 
universities  of  Bonn  and  Berlin.  In  the  year  1836  he  settled 
down  at  the  university  of  Bonn  as  a  teacher  of  church  history. 
But  on  account  of  his  health  he  made  a  journey  to  Italy  in 
1837,  where  he  gave  himself  up  to  the  study  of  the  history  of 
art.  After  his  return  he  became  assistant  preacher  of  an 
evangelical  church  in  Cologne,  where  he  attracted  large  con- 
gregations by  the  eloquence  of  his  sermons.  In  the  meantime 
his  poetical  gifts,  which  by  personal  intercourse  with  Simrock, 
Wolfgang  Miiller,  Freiligrath  and  others  had  been  constantly 
stimulated,  had  attracted  wide  attention.  Especially  his  ro- 
mantic epic,  "  Otto  der  Schutz^'  won  for  him  a  prominent 
name  in  literature.  In  Cologne  he  became  acquainted  with 
the  divorced  wife  of  a  bookseller,  a  woman  of  extraordinary 
mental  activity.  While  rowing  on  the  Rhine  one  day  Kinkel 
saved  her  from  drowning,  the  boat  having  capsized,  and  soon 
after,  in  the  year  1843,  they  were  married.  This  union  with  a 
divorced  Roman  Catholic  woman  would  alone  have  sufficed  to 
make  his  position  as  an  evangelical  clergyman  untenable,  had 
it  not  already  been  undermined  by  his  outspoken  liberal  opin- 
ions. For  this  reason  he  abandoned  theology  and  accepted  a 
position  of  professor-extraordinary  of  art-history  at  the 
university  of  Bonn. 

As  a  lecturer  he  proved  himself  exceedingly  attractive  by 
his  interesting  personality  as  well  as  by  the  charm  of  his  deliv- 
ery. Kinkel  was  a  very  handsome  man,  of  regular  features 
and  herculean  stature,  being  over  six  feet  in  height  and  a  pic- 
ture of  strength.  He  had  a  wonderful  voice,  both  strong  and 
soft,  high  and  low,  powerful  and  touching  in  its  tone,  gentle 
as  a  flute  and  thundering  like  a  trombone — a  voice  which 

[99] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
seemed  to  command  all  the  registers  of  the  church  organ.  To 
listen  to  him  was  at  the  same  time  a  musical  and  an  intellectual 
joy.  A  gesticulation  as  natural  as  it  was  expressive  and  grace- 
ful accompanied  his  speech,  which  flowed  on  in  well-rounded 
and  not  seldom  poetic  sentences. 

When  Kinkel  offered  to  introduce  his  hearers  in  a  special 
course  to  the  art  of  speech,  I  was  one  eagerly  to  seize  the  oppor- 
tunity. He  did  not  deliver  theoretical  instruction  in  rhetorics, 
but  he  began  at  once  to  produce  before  us  eminent  models  and 
to  exercise  our  faculties  by  means  of  them.  As  such  models  he 
selected  some  of  the  great  rhetorical  passages  in  the  dramas  of 
Shakespeare,  and  for  me  he  set  the  task  to  explain  the  famous 
funeral  oration  of  Marc  Antony,  to  point  out  the  intended 
effects  and  the  means  by  which  these  effects  were  to  be  accom- 
plished, and  finally  to  recite  the  whole  speech.  I  accomplished 
this  task  to  his  satisfaction,  and  then  Kinkel  invited  me  to  visit 
him  at  his  house.  I  soon  followed  this  invitation,  and  the  result 
was  the  development  between  teacher  and  scholar  of  a  most 
agreeable  personal  intercourse.  He  possessed  in  a  high  de- 
gree the  genial  unconventionality  and  the  gay  temper  of  the 
Rhineland. 

He  delighted  to  put  the  professor  aside  and  to  let  him- 
self go  when  in  the  circle  of  his  family  and  friends  in  unre- 
strained hilarity.  He  drank  his  glass  of  wine — with  moderation, 
to  be  sure — laughed  heartily  at  a  good  jest^nd  even  at  a  poor 
one,  drew  from  all  circumstances  of  life  as  much  enjoyment 
as  there  was  in  them,  and  grumbled  little  when  fate  was  unkind. 
Thus  one  soon  felt  at  home  in  his  company.  He  had  indeed  also 
his  detractors,  who  accused  him  of  being  what  they  called 
"  vain."  But  who  is  not  vain,  each  one  in  his  way?  Vanity  is 
the  most  common  and  the  most  natural  of  all  weaknesses  of 
character — and  at  the  same  time  the  most  harmless  and  the 

[100] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
most  pardonable  if  it  stands  under  the  influence  of  a  sound 
ambition.  Whenever  it  is  carried  too  far  it  becomes  ridiculous, 
and  thus  punishes  itself. 

Mrs.  Kinkel  was  not  at  all  handsome.  Her  stature  was 
low,  her  features  large  and  somewhat  masculine  and  her  com- 
plexion sallow.  Nor  did  she  understand  the  art  of  dressing. 
Her  gowns  were  ill-fitting  and  usually  so  short  that  they 
brought  her  flat  feet,  clad  in  white  stockings  and  black  slippers, 
with  cross-ribbons,  into  undue  prominence.  But  the  impression 
made  by  her  lack  of  beauty  vanished  at  once  when  one  looked 
into  her  blue,  expressive  eyes,  and  when  she  began  to  speak. 
Even  then  she  seemed  at  first  to  be  neglected  by  nature,  for  her 
voice  was  somewhat  hoarse  and  dry.  But  what  she  said  almost 
instantly  fascinated  the  hearer.  She  not  only  spoke  upon  many 
subjects  of  high  significance  with  understanding,  sagacity  and 
striking  clearness,  but  she  also  knew  how  to  endow  by  her  pic- 
turesque presentation  commonplace  things  and  every-day 
events  with  a  peculiar  charm.  In  conversing  with  her  one 
always  felt  that  behind  what  she  said  there  was  still  a  great 
wealth  of  knowledge  and  of  thought.  She  also  possessed  that 
sparkling  Rhenish  humor  that  loves  to  look  at  things  from 
their  comical  side  and  under  all  circumstances  appreciates  what- 
ever there  is  enjoyable  in  life.  She  had  received  an  exception- 
ally thorough  musical  education,  and  played  the  piano  with  a 
master  hand.  I  have  hardly  ever  heard  Beethoven  and  Chopin 
compositions  performed  with  more  perfection  than  by  her.  In 
fact,  she  had  passed  far  beyond  the  line  that  separates  the 
dilettante  from  the  artist.  She  had  also  written  some  exquisite 
compositions.  Although  her  voice  possessed  no  resonance  and 
in  singing  she  could  only  indicate  the  tones,  still  she  sang  with 
thrilling  effect.  Indeed,  she  understood  the  art  of  singing  with- 
out a  voice. 

[101] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
Whoever  observed  these  two  externally  so  different  human 
beings  in  their  domestic  life  could  not  but  receive  the  impres- 
sion that  they  found  hearty  joy  in  one  another  and  that  they 
fought  the  struggles  of  life  together  with  a  sort  of  defiant 
buoyancy  of  spirit.  This  impression  became  even  stronger 
when  one  witnessed  their  happiness  in  their  four  children. 

No  wonder  that  Kinkel's  house  became  the  gathering 
place  of  a  circle  of  congenial  people,  whose  hours  of  social  in- 
tercourse left  nothing  to  desire  in  animation,  intellectual 
vivacity  and  cheerfulness.  It  was  composed  throughout  of  men 
and  women  of  rich  mental  endowments  and  of  liberal  ways  of 
thinking  in  the  religious  as  well  as  the  political  field — men  and 
women  who  liked  to  utter  their  opinions  and  sentiments  with 
outspoken  frankness;  and  there  was  no  lack  of  interesting 
topics  in  those  days. 

The  revolt  among  the  Roman  Catholics  caused  by  the 
exhibition  and  adoration  of  the  "holy  coat"  in  Trier  had 
brought  forth  the  so-called  "  German  Catholic  "  movement, 
and  had  also  given  a  vigorous  impulse  to  the  tendency  for  free- 
thinking  and  free-teaching  among  Protestants.  Upon  the  polit- 
ical field,  too,  there  was  a  mighty  stir.  The  period  of  polit- 
ical discouragement  and  of  national  self -depreciation  in  Ger- 
many had  given  place  to  an  impulse  to  strive  for  real  and  well- 
defined  goals,  and  also  to  the  belief  that  such  goals  were  attain- 
able. Everybody  felt  the  coming  of  great  changes,  although 
most  people  did  not  anticipate  how  soon  they  would  come. 
Among  the  guests  of  Kinkel's  house  I  heard  many  things 
clearly  uttered  which  until  then  were  only  more  or  less 
nebulous  in  my  mind.  A  short  review  of  the  origin  and  devel- 
opment of  the  feelings  with  regard  to  political  conditions, 
which  at  that  time  prevailed  with  the  class  of  Germans  to 
which  he,  and,  in  a  more  modest  way,  I  belonged,  may  serve 

[102] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
to  make  intelligible  their  conduct  in  the  movements  which 
preceded  the  revolutionary  upheavals  of  the  year  1848. 

The  patriotic  heart  loved  to  dwell  on  the  memories  of  the 
"  holy  Roman  empire  of  the  German  nation,"  which  once,  at 
the  zenith  of  its  power,  had  held  leadership  in  the  civilized 
world.  From  these  memories  sprang  the  Kyffhauser  roman- 
ticism, with  its  dreams  of  the  new  birth  of  German  power  and 
magnificence,  which  had  such  poetic  charm  to  German  youth: 
the  legend  telling  how  the  old  Kaiser  Friedrich  Barbarossa 
was  sitting  in  a  cave  of  the  Kyffhauser  mountain  in  Thur- 
ingia,  in  a  sleep  centuries  long,  his  elbows  resting  on  a 
stone  table  and  his  head  on  his  hands,  while  a  pair  of  ravens 
were  circling  around  the  mountain  top;  and  how  one  day  the 
ravens  would  fly  away  and  the  old  kaiser  would  awaken  and 
issue  from  the  mountain,  sword  in  hand,  to  restore  the  Ger- 
man Empire  to  its  ancient  glory.  While  cherishing  such 
dreams  we  remembered  with  shame  the  time  of  the  national 
disintegration  and  the  dreary  despotism  after  the  Thirty 
Years'  War,  when  German  princes,  devoid  of  all  national 
feeling,  always  stood  ready  to  serve  the  interests  and  the  am- 
bitions of  foreign  potentates — even  to  sell  their  own  subjects 
in  order  to  maintain  with  the  disgraceful  proceeds  the  luxuries 
of  their  dissolute  courts;  and  with  equal  shame  we  thought  of 
the  period  of  the  "  Rheinbund,"  when  a  number  of  German 
princes  became  mere  vassals  of  Napoleon;  when  one  part  of 
Germany  served  to  keep  the  other  part  at  the  feet  of  the  hated 
conqueror,  and  when  Emperor  Francis  of  Austria,  who  had 
been  also  emperor  of  the  hopelessly  decayed  empire  of  Ger- 
many, laid  down  in  1806  his  crown,  and  German  Emperor 
and  German  Empire  ceased  even  to  exist  in  name. 

Then  came,  in  1813,  after  long  suffering  and  debasement, 
the  great  popular  uprising  against  Napoleonic  despotism,  and 

[103] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
with  it  a  period  of  a  new  German  national  consciousness.  To 
this  feeling  appealed  the  famous  manifesto,  issued  from  the 
town  of  Kalisch,  in  which  the  king  of  Prussia,  allied  with  the 
Russian  Czar,  after  Napoleon's  defeat  in  Russia,  called  the 
German  people  to  arms,  promising  at  the  same  time  a  new 
national  union  and  participation  of  the  people  in  the  business 
of  government  under  constitutional  forms.  The  new  birth  of  a 
united  German  national  empire,  the  abolition  of  arbitrary  gov- 
ernment by  the  introduction  of  free  political  institutions — that 
was  the  solemn  promise  of  the  Prussian  king  as  the  people 
understood  it — that  was  the  hope  which  inspired  the  people  in 
the  struggle  against  Napoleonic  rule  with  enthusiastic  heroism 
and  a  self-sacrifice  without  limit,  and  ended  in  a  final  victory. 
It  was  one  of  the  periods  in  history  when  a  people  proved  itself 
ready  to  sacrifice  all  for  the  attainment  of  an  ideal.  But  after 
the  victories  of  Leipzig  and  Waterloo  followed  another  time  of 
bitter  disappointment.  Against  the  formation  of  a  united 
Germany  arose  not  only  the  jealous  opposition  of  non-German 
Europe,  but  also  the  selfish  ambitions  of  the  smaller  German 
princes,  especially  of  those  who,  as  members  of  the  "Rhein- 
bund,"  such  as  Bavaria,  Wurtemberg,  Baden,  etc.,  had  been 
raised  in  their  rank.  And  this  opposition  was  strengthened  by 
the  intriguing  policy  of  Austria,  which,  with  her  possessions 
outside  of  Germany,  had  also  un-German  interests  and  designs. 
And  this  Austrian  policy  was  conducted  by  Prince  Metter- 
nich,  the  prime  minister  of  Austria,  to  whom  every  emotion 
of  German  patriotism  was  foreign,  as  he  hated  and  feared 
every  free  aspiration  among  the  people.  Thus  the  peace 
was  far  from  bringing  to  the  German  people  the  reward  for 
their  sacrifices  which  they  had  deserved  and  expected.  From 
the  Congress  of  Vienna,  in  1814  and  1815,  which  disposed  of 
peoples  as  of  herds  of  cattle  in  order  to  establish  a  permanent 

[  104  ] 


FREDERICK    WILLIAM    III 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
balance  of  power  in  Europe,  nothing  issued  for  the  German 
nation  but  a  treaty  of  alliance  between  German  states,  the 
famous  "  Deutsche  Bund,"  the  organ  of  which  was  to  be  the 
"  Bundestag  " ;  and  this  organ  was  to  be  composed  of  the  rep- 
resentatives of  the  various  German  kings  and  princes,  without 
any  vestige  of  a  representation  of  the  people.  There  was 
no  mention  of  any  guarantee  of  civic  rights,  of  a  popular 
vote,  of  a  free  press,  of  the  freedom  of  assembly,  of  a  trial  by 
jury.  On  the  contrary,  the  "  Bundestag,"  impotent  as  an 
organ  of  the  German  nation  in  its  relations  to  the  outside 
world,  developed  itself  only  as  a  mutual  insurance  society  of 
despotic  rulers — as  a  central  police  board  for  the  suppression 
of  all  national  and  liberal  movements.  The  king  of  Prussia, 
Frederick  William  III.,  the  same  who  had  made  the  prom- 
ises to  the  people  contained  in  the  proclamation  of  Kalisch, 
had  probably  in  the  days  of  distress  and  of  national  uprising 
honestly  meant  to  do  what  he  promised.  But  his  mind  was 
narrow  and  easily  disposed  to  consider  autocratic  authority 
on  his  part  as  necessary  for  the  well-being  of  the  world.  Every 
effort  among  the  people  in  favor  of  free  institutions  of  gov- 
ernment appeared  to  him  as  an  attack  on  that  absolute  author- 
ity, and  therefore  as  a  revolutionary  transgression;  and  the 
mere  reminder  on  the  part  of  the  people  of  his  own  promises 
made  to  them  in  1813  was  resented  by  him  as  an  arrogant  self- 
assertion  of  subjects,  and  as  such  to  be  repelled.  Thus  he  be- 
came, perhaps  unconsciously,  the  mere  tool  of  Prince  Metter- 
nich,  the  evil  genius  of  Germany.  The  outcome  was  a  period  of 
stupid  reaction,  a  period  of  conferences  of  ministers  for  the 
concoction  of  despotic  measures,  of  cruel  persecutions  of  patri- 
otic men  whom  they  called  demagogues,  of  barbarous  press- 
gagging,  of  brutal  police  excesses.  In  some  of  the  small  Ger- 
man states  some  advance  was  made  toward  liberal  institutions, 

[105] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
which,  however,  was  usually  followed  by  more  odious  measures 
of  repression  on  the  part  of  the  Bundestag.  Such  were  the  re- 
turns for  the  sacrifices  and  the  heroism  of  the  German  people 
in  the  struggle  for  national  independence ;  such  was  the  fulfill- 
ment of  the  fair  promises  made  by  the  princes.  It  was  a  time 
of  deepest  humiliation.  Even  the  Frenchmen,  who  had  felt 
the  edge  of  the  German  sword,  derided,  not  without  reason, 
the  pitiable  degradation  of  the  victor. 

Hope  revived  when  Frederick  William  III.'s  son  and 
successor,  Frederick  William  IV.,  ascended  the  Prussian 
throne  in  1840.  He  was  regarded  as  a  man  of  high  intelligence 
and  had,  as  crown-prince,  excited  fair  expectations.  Many  con- 
sidered him  incapable  of  continuing  the  stupid  and  sterile  pol- 
icy of  his  father.  Indeed,  the  first  utterances  of  the  new  king 
and  the  employment  of  able  men  in  high  positions  encour- 
aged the  hope  that  he  harbored  a  national  heart,  in  sympathy 
with  the  patriotic  aspirations  of  the  German  people,  and  that 
the  liberal  currents  of  the  time  would  find  in  him  appreciative 
understanding.  But  fresh  disappointment  followed.  As  soon 
as  the  demand  was  publicly  made,  that  now  at  last  the  old 
promises  of  a  representative  government  should  be  fulfilled, 
the  king's  attitude  changed.  These  demands  were  bluntly  re- 
pelled, and  the  censorship  of  the  press  was  enforced  with 
renewed  severity. 

Frederick  William  IV.  was  possessed  of  a  mystical  faith 
in  the  absolute  power  of  kings  "  by  the  grace  of  God."  He 
indulged  himself  in  romantic  imaginings  about  the  political 
and  social  institutions  of  the  Middle  Ages,  which  had  for  him 
greater  charm  than  those  befitting  the  nineteenth  century. 
He  had  sudden  conceits,  but  no  convictions;  whims,  but  no 
genuine  force  of  will;  wit,  but  no  wisdom.  He  possessed  the 
ambition  to  do  something  great  and  thus  to  engrave  his  name 

[106] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
upon  the  history  of  the  world;  but  he  wished  at  heart  to  leave 
everything  substantially  as  it  had  been.  He  thought  he  could 
satisfy  the  people  with  an  appearance  of  participation  in  the 
government  without  however  in  the  least  limiting  the  omnipo- 
tence of  the  crown.  But  these  attempts  ended  like  others  made 
by  other  monarchs  in  other  times.  The  merely  ostensible  and  in- 
sufficient things  he  offered  served  only  to  strengthen  and  in- 
flame the  popular  demand  for  something  substantial  and  effec- 
tive. Revolutions  often  begin  with  apparent  but  unreal  reforms. 
He  called  "  provincial  diets,"  assemblies  of  local  representa- 
tive bodies,  with  the  expectation  that  they  would  modestly  con- 
tent themselves  with  the  narrow  functions  he  prescribed  for 
them.  But  they  petitioned  vehemently  for  a  great  deal  more. 
The  experiment  of  appearing  to  give  and  of  really  withhold- 
ing everything  was  bound  to  fail  miserably.  The  petitions  of 
the  provincial  diets  for  freedom  of  the  press,  for  trial  by  jury, 
and  a  liberal  constitution,  became  more  and  more  pressing. 
The  discontent  gradually  grew  so  general,  the  storm  of  peti- 
tions so  violent,  the  repugnance  of  the  people  to  the  police- 
despotism  so  menacing,  that  the  old  parade  of  the  absolute 
kingly  power  would  no  longer  suffice,  and  some  new  step 
in  the  direction  of  liberal  innovations  seemed  imperatively 
necessary. 

At  last  Frederick  William  IV.  decided  to  convoke  the 
so-called  "  United  Diet,"  an  assembly  consisting  of  the  mem- 
bers of  all  the  provincial  diets,  to  meet  on  April  11,  1847, 
in  Berlin.  But  it  was  the  old  game  over  again.  This  assembly 
was  to  have  the  look  of  a  parliament  and  yet  not  to  be  one.  Its 
convocation  was  always  to  depend  upon  the  pleasure  of  the 
king.  Its  powers  were  circumscribed  within  the  narrowest 
limits.  It  was  not  to  make  laws  nor  to  pass  binding  resolutions. 
It  was  to  serve  only  as  a  sort  of  privy  council  to  the  king,  to 

[107] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
assist  him  in  forming  his  decisions,  its  wishes  to  be  presented 
to  him  only  by  way  of  petition.  In  the  speech  with  which 
the  king  opened  the  United  Diet,  he  declared  with  em- 
phasis that  this  was  now  the  utmost  concession  to  which  he 
would  ever  consent;  he  would  never,  never  permit  a  piece  of 
paper,  meaning  a  written  constitution,  to  be  put  between  the 
prince  and  his  people;  the  people  themselves,  he  claimed,  did 
not  desire  a  participation  of  their  representatives  in  the  govern- 
ment; the  absolute  power  of  the  king  must  not  be  broken;  "  the 
crown  must  reign  and  govern  according  to  the  laws  of  God 
and  of  the  country  and  according  to  the  king's  own  resolu- 
tions " ;  he  could  not,  and  must  not,  "  govern  according  to  the 
will  of  majorities  " ;  and  he,  the  king,  "  would  never  have  called 
this  assembly  had  he  ever  suspected  in  the  slightest  degree  that 
its  members  would  try  to  play  the  part  of  so-called  representa- 
tives of  the  people."  This  was  now,  he  said,  the  fulfillment, 
and  "  more  than  the  fulfillment,"  of  the  promises  made 
in  the  time  of  distress  in  1813,  before  the  expulsion  of  the 
French. 

General  disappointment  and  increasing  discontent  fol- 
lowed this  pronouncement.  But  the  concession  made  by  the 
king  in  fact  signified  more  than  he  had  anticipated.  A  king 
who  wishes  to  govern  with  absolute  power  must  not  permit  a 
public  discussion  of  the  policy  and  of  the  acts  of  the  govern- 
ment by  men  who  stand  nearer  to  the  people  than  he  does.  The 
United  Diet  could  indeed  not  resolve,  but  only  debate  and 
petition.  But  that  it  could  debate,  and  that  its  debates  passed 
through  faithful  newspaper  reports  into  the  intelligence  of  the 
country — that  was  an  innovation  of  incalculable  consequence. 

The  bearing  of  the  United  Diet,  on  the  benches  of  which 
sat  many  men  of  uncommon  capacity  and  liberal  principles, 
was   throughout   dignified,    discreet   and   moderate.  But   the 

[108] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
struggle  against  absolutism  began  instantly,  and  the  people 
followed  it  with  constantly  increasing  interest.  What  has 
happened  in  the  history  of  the  world  more  than  once  hap- 
pened again.  Every  step  forward  brought  to  the  consciousness 
of  the  people  the  necessity  of  further  steps  forward.  And 
now,  when  the  king  endeavored  to  stem  the  growing  commo- 
tion, repelled  the  moderate  demands  made  by  the  United  Diet 
with  sharp  words,  and  dismissed  that  assembly  "  ungraciously,' ' 
then  the  public  mind  was,  by  the  government  itself,  dragged 
into  that  channel  of  thought  in  which  revolutionary  sentiments 
grow. 

There  had  indeed  long  been  some  revolutionary  agitators 
who,  in  their  isolation,  had  passed  for  dreamers  and  could 
win  but  a  slim  following.  But  now  the  feeling  began  to  spread 
in  large  circles  that  the  real  thunder-storm  was  coming, 
although  hardly  anybody  anticipated  how  soon  it  would  come. 
In  former  days  people  had  excited  themselves  about  what 
Thiers  and  Guizot  had  said  in  the  French  chambers,  or  Pal- 
merston  and  Derby  in  the  English  parliament,  or  even  what 
Hecker,  Rotteck  and  Welker  had  said  in  the  little  Diet  of  the 
grand  duchy  of  Baden.  But  now  everybody  listened  with 
nervous  eagerness  to  every  word  that  in  the  United  Diet  of 
the  most  important  of  German  states  had  fallen  from  the  lips 
of  Camphausen,  Vincke,  Beckerath,  Hansemann  and  other 
liberal  leaders.  There  was  a  feeling  in  the  air  as  if  this  United 
Diet,  in  its  position  and  the  task  to  be  performed  by  it,  was 
not  at  all  unlike  the  French  assembly  of  the  year  1789. 

We  university  students  watched  these  events  with  per- 
haps a  less  clear  understanding,  but  with  no  less  ardent  interest, 
than  our  elders.  As  I  have  already  mentioned,  the  "  Burschen- 
schaft "  had  its  political  traditions.  Immediately  after  the 
wars  of  liberation — 1813  to  1815 — it  had  been  among  the  first 

[109] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
in  line  to  raise  the  cry  for  the  fulfillment  of  the  pledges  given 
by  the  princes.  It  had  cultivated  the  national  spirit  with  zeal, 
although  sometimes  with  exaggerated  demonstrations.  It  had 
furnished  many  victims  in  the  persecutions  of  so-called  dema- 
gogues. The  political  activity  of  the  old  Burschenschaft  had 
indeed  not  been  continued  by  the  younger  associations;  but 
"  God,  Liberty,  Fatherland,"  had  still  remained  the  common 
watchword;  we  still  wore  the  prohibited  black-red-golden  rib- 
bon under  our  coats,  and  very  many  members  of  the  new 
Burschenschaft  societies  still  recognized  it  as  their  duty  to  keep 
themselves  well  informed  of  what  happened  in  the  political 
world  and  to  devote  to  it  as  active  an  interest  as  possible.  Thus 
the  liberal  currents  of  our  time  found  among  us  enthusi- 
astic partisans,  although  we  young  people  could  not  give  a 
very  definite  account  of  the  practical  steps  to  be  taken. 

In  the  prosecution  of  my  studies  I  had  taken  up  with 
ardor  the  history  of  Europe  at  the  period  of  the  great  Refor- 
mation. I  expected  to  make  this  my  specialty  as  a  professor  of 
history.  The  great  characters  of  that  period  strongly  at- 
tracted me  and  I  could  not  resist  the  temptation  to  clothe  some 
of  them  in  dramatic  form.  So  I  planned  a  tragedy,  the  main 
figure  of  which  was  to  be  Ulrich  von  Hutten,  and  I  began  to 
elaborate  some  scenes  in  detail.  At  the  beginning  of  the  winter 
semester  of  1847-48  I  had  made  the  acquaintance  of  a  young 
student  from  Detmold,  who  became  not  indeed  a  member,  but 
a  guest  of  the  Franconia.  His  name  was  Friedrich  Althaus. 
More  than  any  young  man  of  my  acquaintance  he  responded 
to  the  ideal  of  German  youth.  His  was  a  thoroughly  pure  and 
noble  nature  and  richly  endowed  with  mental  gifts.  As  we 
pursued  similar  studies  we  easily  became  intimates,  and  this 
friendship  lasted  with  undiminished  warmth  long  beyond  the 
university  years.  To  him  I  confided  my  Hutten  secret,  and  he 

[110] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
encouraged  me  to  carry  out  my  plan.  Happy  were  the  hours 
when  I  read  to  him  what  I  had  written  and  he  gave  me  his 
judgment,  which  usually  was  altogether  too  favorable.  Thus 
passed  the  larger  part  of  the  winter  in  useful  and  enjoyable 
occupations.  Then  fate  broke  in  with  the  force  of  a  mighty 
hurricane,  which  swept  me,  as  well  as  many  others,  with  irre- 
sistible power  out  of  all  life-plans  previously  designed  and 
cherished. 


cm] 


CHAPTER  V 

ONE  morning,  toward  the  end  of  February,  1848,  I  sat 
quietly  in  my  attic-chamber,  working  hard  at  my  tragedy  of 
"  Ulrich  von  Hutten,"  when  suddenly  a  friend  rushed  breath- 
lessly into  the  room,  exclaiming:  "  What,  you  sitting  here!  Do 
you  not  know  what  has  happened?  " 

"No;  what?" 

"  The  French  have  driven  away  Louis  Philippe  and  pro- 
claimed the  republic." 

I  threw  down  my  pen — and  that  was  the  end  of  "  Ulrich 
von  Hutten."  I  never  touched  the  manuscript  again.  We  tore 
down  the  stairs,  into  the  street,  to  the  market-square,  the  accus- 
tomed meeting-place  for  all  the  student  societies  after  their 
midday  dinner.  Although  it  was  still  forenoon,  the  market  was 
already  crowded  with  young  men  talking  excitedly.  There  was 
no.  shouting,  no  noise,  only  agitated  conversation.  What  did 
we  want  there?  This  probably  no  one  knew.  But  since  the 
French  had  driven  away  Louis  Philippe  and  proclaimed  the 
republic,  something  of  course  must  happen  here,  too.  Some  of 
the  students  had  brought  their  rapiers  along,  as  if  it  were  neces- 
sary at  once  to  make  an  attack  or  to  defend  ourselves.  We 
were  dominated  by  a  vague  feeling  as  if  a  great  outbreak  of 
elemental  forces  had  begun,  as  if  an  earthquake  was  impend- 
ing of  which  we  had  felt  the  first  shock,  and  we  instinctively 
crowded  together.  Thus  we  wandered  about  in  numerous  bands 
— to  the  "  Kneipe,"  where  our  restlessness,  however,  would  not 
suffer  us  long  to  stay ;  then  to  other  pleasure  resorts,  where  we 
fell  into  conversation  with  all  manner  of  strangers,  to  find  in 

[in] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
them  the  same  confused,  astonished  and  expectant  state  of 
mind;  then  back  to  the  market-square,  to  see  what  might  be 
going  on  there;  then  again  somewhere  else,  and  so  on,  without 
aim  and  end,  until  finally  late  in  the  night  fatigue  compelled 
us  to  find  the  way  home. 

The  next  morning  there  were  the  usual  lectures  to  be  at- 
tended. But  how  profitless!  The  voice  of  the  professor 
sounded  like  a  monotonous  drone  coming  from  far  away. 
What  he  had  to  say  did  not  seem  to  concern  us.  The  pen  that 
should  have  taken  notes  remained  idle.  At  last  we  closed  with 
a  sigh  the  notebook  and  went  away,  impelled  by  a  f eeling  that 
now  we  had  something  more  important  to  do — to  devote  our- 
selves to  the  affairs  of  the  fatherland.  And  this  we  did  by  seek- 
ing as  quickly  as  possible  again  the  company  of  our  friends,  in 
order  to  discuss  what  had  happened  and  what  was  to  come.  In 
these  conversations,  excited  as  they  were,  certain  ideas  and 
catchwords  worked  themselves  to  the  surface,  which  expressed 
more  or  less  the  feelings  of  the  people.  Now  had  arrived  in 
Germany  the  day  for  the  establishment  of  "  German  Unity," 
and  the  founding  of  a  great,  powerful  national  German  Em- 
pire. In  the  first  line  the  convocation  of  a  national  parliament. 
Then  the  demands  for  civil  rights  and  liberties,  free  speech, 
free  press,  the  right  of  free  assembly,  equality  before  the  law, 
a  freely  elected  representation  of  the  people  with  legislative 
power,  responsibility  of  ministers,  self-government  of  the  com- 
munes, the  right  of  the  people  to  carry  arms,  the  formation  of 
a  civic  guard  with  elective  officers,  and  so  on — in  short,  that 
which  was  called  a  "  constitutional  form  of  government  on  a 
broad  democratic  basis."  Republican  ideas  were  at  first  only 
sparingly  expressed.  But  the  word  democracy  was  soon  on 
all  tongues,  and  many,  too,  thought  it  a  matter  of  course 
that  if  the  princes  should  try  to  withhold  from  the  people  the 

[113] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
rights  and  liberties  demanded,  force  would  take  the  place  of 
mere  petition.  Of  course  the  regeneration  of  the  fatherland 
must,  if  possible,  be  accomplished  by  peaceable  means.  A  few 
days  after  the  outbreak  of  this  commotion  I  reached  my  nine- 
teenth birthday.  I  remember  to  have  been  so  entirely  absorbed 
by  what  was  happening  that  I  could  hardly  turn  my  thoughts 
to  anything  else.  Like  many  of  my  friends,  I  was  dominated  by 
the  feeling  that  at  last  the  great  opportunity  had  arrived  for 
giving  to  the  German  people  the  liberty  which  was  their  birth- 
right and  to  the  German  fatherland  its  unity  and  greatness,  and 
that  it  was  now  the  first  duty  of  every  German  to  do  and  to 
sacrifice  everything  for  this  sacred  object.  We  were  pro- 
foundly, solemnly  in  earnest. 

The  first  practical  service  we  had  to  perform  turned  out 
to  be  a  very  merry  one.  Shortly  after  the  arrival  of  the  tidings 
from  France  the  burgomaster  of  Bonn,  a  somewhat  timid  man, 
believed  the  public  safety  in  his  town  to  be  in  imminent  danger. 
In  point  of  fact,  in  spite  of  the  general  excitement  there  were 
really  no  serious  disturbances  of  the  public  order.  But  the 
burgomaster  insisted  that  a  civic  guard  must  at  once  be  organ- 
ized, to  patrol  the  city  and  the  surrounding  country  during  the 
night.  The  students,  too,  were  called  upon  to  join  it,  and  as 
this  forming  of  such  a  guard  was  also  part  of  our  political  pro- 
gramme, we  at  once  willingly  obeyed  the  summons,  and  we  did 
this  in  such  numbers  that  soon  the  civic  guard  consisted  in 
great  part  of  university  men.  Our  prescribed  task  was  to 
arrest  disturbers  of  the  public  order  and  suspicious  individuals, 
and  to  conduct  them  to  the  guardhouse;  to  induce  gatherings 
of  a  suspicious  nature  to  disperse;  to  protect  property  and 
generally  to  watch  over  the  public  safety.  But  the  public  safety 
being  really  in  no  manner  threatened,  and  the  patrolling  of 
the  city  and  neighborhood  meeting  no  serious  need,  the  uni- 

[114] 


\ 

THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
versity  men  found  in  the  whole  proceeding  an  opportunity  for 
harmless  amusement.  Armed  with  our  rapiers,  the  iron  sheaths 
of  which  were  made  to  rattle  upon  the  pavement  to  the  best  of 
our  ability,  we  marched  through  the  streets.  Every  solitary 
citizen  whom  we  met  late  in  the  night  was  summoned  with 
pompous  phrases  to  "  disperse  "  and  to  betake  himself  to  his 
"  respective  habitation,"  or,  if  it  pleased  him  better,  to  follow 
us  to  the  guardhouse  and  have  a  glass  of  wine  with  us.  When- 
ever we  happened  to  run  across  a  patrol  not  composed  of  stu- 
dents, but  of  citizens,  we  at  once  denounced  them  as  a  danger- 
ous mob,  arrested  them  and  took  them  to  the  guardhouse,  where 
with  cheers  for  the  new  empire  we  drank  as  many  glasses 
together  as  there  were  points  of  reform  in  the  political  pro- 
gramme. The  good  burghers  of  Bonn  fully  appreciated  the 
humorous  situation  and  entered  heartily  into  the  fun. 

While  all  this  looked  merry  enough,  affairs  elsewhere  were 
taking  a  serious  turn — as  serious  as  we,  too,  felt  at  the  bottom 
of  our  hearts. 

Exciting  news  came  from  all  sides.  In  Cologne  a  threat- 
ening ferment  prevailed.  In  the  taverns  and  on  the  streets 
resounded  the  "  Marseillaise,"  which  at  that  time  still  passed  in 
all  Europe  as  the  "hymn  of  liberty."  On  the  public  places  great 
meetings  were  held  to  consult  about  the  demands  to  be  made  by 
the  people.  A  large  deputation,  headed  by  the  late  lieutenant 
of  artillery,  August  von  Willich,  forced  its  way  into  the  hall 
of  the  city  council,  vehemently  insisting  that  the  municipality 
present  as  its  own  the  demands  of  the  people  of  Cologne  to  the 
king.  The  streets  resounded  with  the  military  drumbeat;  the 
soldiery  marched  upon  the  popular  gatherings,  and  Willich, 
as  well  as  another  ex-artillery  officer,  Fritz  Anneke,  were  ar- 
rested; whereupon  increasing  excitement. 

The  Rhenish  members  of  the  prorogued  United  Diet  im- 

[115] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
plored  the  president  of  the  province  to  urge  upon  the  king 
an  immediate  acceptance  of  the  demands  of  the  people  as  the 
only  thing  that  could  prevent  bloody  conflicts.  In  Coblenz, 
Diisseldorf,  Aachen,  Crefeld,  Cleves  and  other  cities  on  the 
Rhine  similar  demonstrations  took  place.  In  South  Germany 
— in  Baden,  Hessen-on-the-Rhine,  Nassau,  Wurtemberg, 
Bavaria — the  same  revolutionary  spirit  burst  forth  like  a 
prairie-fire.  In  Baden  the  Grand  Duke  acceded  almost  at  once 
to  what  was  asked  of  him,  and  so  did  the  rulers  of  Wurtem- 
berg, Nassau,  and  Hessen-Darmstadt.  In  Bavaria,  where  even 
before  the  outbreak  of  the  French  February  revolution  the 
notorious  Lola  Montez,  favorite  of  King  Ludwig  I.,  had  had 
to  yield  her  place  near  the  throne  to  the  wrath  of  the  people, 
uproar  followed  uproar  to  drive  the  king  to  liberal  concessions. 
In  Hessen-Cassel  the  "  Elector  "  also  succumbed  to  the  press- 
ure when  the  people  had  armed  themselves  for  an  uprising. 
The  students  of  the  university  of  Giessen  sent  word  to  the 
insurgent  Hessians  that  they  stood  ready  to  help  them.  In 
Saxony  the  defiant  attitude  of  the  citizens  of  Leipzig,  under 
the  leadership  of  Robert  Blum,  quickly  brought  the  king  to 
terms. 

Great  news  came  from  Vienna.  There  the  students  of  the 
university  were  the  first  to  assail  the  Emperor  of  Austria  with 
the  cry  for  liberty  and  citizens'  rights.  Blood  flowed  in  the 
streets,  and  the  downfall  of  Prince  Metternich  was  the  result. 
The  students  organized  themselves  as  the  armed  guard  of 
liberty.  In  the  great  cities  of  Prussia  there  was  a  mighty  com- 
motion. Not  only  Cologne,  Coblenz  and  Trier,  but  also  Bres- 
lau,  Konigsberg  and  Frankfurt-on-the-Oder,  sent  deputations 
to  Berlin  to  entreat  the  king.  In  the  Prussian  capital  the 
masses  surged  upon  the  streets,  and  everybody  looked  for 
events  of  great  import. 

[116] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
While  such  tidings  rushed  in  upon  us  from  all  sides 
like  a  roaring  hurricane,  we  in  the  little  university  town  of 
Bonn  were  also  busy  preparing  addresses  to  the  sovereign,  to 
circulate  them  for  signature  and  to  send  them  to  Berlin.  On 
the  18th  of  March  we  too  had  our  mass  demonstration.  A 
great  multitude  gathered  for  a  solemn  procession  through  the 
streets  of  the  town.  The  most  respectable  citizens,  not  a  few 
professors  and  a  great  number  of  students  and  people  of  all 
grades  marched  in  close  ranks.  At  the  head  of  the  procession 
Professor  Kinkel  bore  the  tricolor,  black,  red  and  gold,  which 
so  long  had  been  prohibited  as  the  revolutionary  flag.  Arrived 
on  the  market-square  he  mounted  the  steps  of  the  city  hall  and 
spoke  to  the  assembled  throng.  He  spoke  with  wonderful  elo- 
quence, his  voice  ringing  out  in  its  most  powerful  tones  as  he 
depicted  a  resurrection  of  German  unity  and  greatness  and  of 
the  liberties  and  rights  of  the  German  people,  which  now  must 
be  conceded  by  the  princes  or  won  by  force  by  the  people.  And 
when  at  last  he  waved  the  black,  red  and  gold  banner,  arid 
predicted  to  a  free  German  nation  a  magnificent  future,  en- 
thusiasm without  bounds  broke  forth.  People  clapped  their 
hands,  they  shouted,  they  embraced  one  another,  they  shed 
tears.  In  a  moment  the  city  was  covered  with  black,  red  and 
gold  flags,  and  not  only  the  Burschenschaft,  but  almost 
everybody  wore  a  black-red-gold  cockade  on  his  hat.  While 
on  that  18th  of  March  we  were  parading  through  the 
streets  suddenly  sinister  rumors  flew  from  mouth  to  mouth. 
It  had  been  reported  that  the  king  of  Prussia,  after  long  hesi- 
tation, had  finally  concluded,  like  the  other  German  princes,  to 
concede  the  demands  that  were  pouring  upon  him  from  all 
sides.  But  now  a  whispered  report  flew  around  that  the  soldiery 
had  suddenly  fired  upon  the  people  and  that  a  bloody  struggle 
was  raging  in  the  streets  of  Berlin. 

[117] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
The  enthusiastic  elation  was  followed  by  a  short  time  of 
anxious  expectancy.  At  last  came  the  report  of  the  awful 
events  that  had  taken  place  in  the  capital. 

The  king  of  Prussia,  Frederick  William  IV.,  at  first 
received  the  petitions  rushing  in  upon  him  with  sullen  silence. 
He  had  so  recently,  and  then  so  emphatically,  even  so  defiantly, 
proclaimed  his  inflexible  determination  never  to  consent  to  any 
constitutional  limitation  of  his  kingly  power,  that  the  thought 
of  yielding  to  popular  pressure  anything  that  he  fancied  should 
be  only  a  free  emanation  of  the  royal  will  was  well-nigh  incon- 
ceivable to  him.  But  the  situation  became  more  threatening 
from  day  to  day.  Not  only  the  language  of  the  deputations 
arriving  from  various  parts  of  the  kingdom  constantly  grew 
more  and  more  impetuous  and  peremptory,  but  the  people  of 
Berlin  began  to  hold  mass  meetings  counting  by  thousands  and 
to  greet  with  thundering  acclamations  the  political  watchwords 
uttered  by  popular  orators.  The  municipal  authorities,  too, 
were  swept  into  the  current  and  entreated  the  king  to  make 
concessions.  At  last  he  saw  the  necessity  of  yielding  some- 
thing. On  the  14th  of  March  he  gave  a  "  gracious  "  answer  to 
an  address  presented  by  the  city  council,  but  that  answer  was 
still  too  evasive  and  indefinite  to  satisfy  public  opinion.  Mean- 
while bloody  collisions  occurred  between  the  police  supported 
by  military  detachments  and  the  multitude  thronging  the  pub- 
lic squares  and  streets,  in  which  a  merchant  and  a  university 
student  were  killed.  The  bitterness  of  feeling  caused  by  these 
events  was  somewhat  assuaged  by  a  rumor  that  the  king  had 
resolved  upon  further  and  more  important  concessions,  which 
would  be  publicly  announced  on  the  18th.  He  had  indeed  con- 
cluded to  issue  an  edict  opening  a  prospect  of  steps  to  be  taken 
in  favor  of  national  unity  and  abolishing  the  censorship  of  the 
press.  -    . 

[118] 


"i      ar'^    WSfc. 

™ 

^  -  -      I 

** H  ■          m 

^7E  LIB  R^* 
^     OF  THE       'r 

UNIVERSITY 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
On  the  afternoon  of  the  fateful  18th  of  March  an  im- 
mense concourse  of  people  assembled  on  the  open  square  in 
front  of  the  royal  palace,  hoping  to  hear  the  authoritative 
announcement  that  the  popular  demands  had  been  granted. 
The  king  appeared  on  the  balcony  and  was  received  with 
enthusiastic  cheers.  He  attempted  to  speak,  but  could  not  be 
heard.  In  the  belief,  however,  that  he  had  granted  all  that  was 
asked  for,  the  people  were  ready  for  a  jubilee.  Then  a  cry 
arose  for  the  removal  of  the  bodies  of  troops  surrounding  the 
palace  and  appearing  to  separate  the  king  from  his  people.  It 
seemed  to  be  expected  that  this  would  be  granted,  too,  for  an 
effort  was  made  to  open  a  passage  for  the  soldiers  through  the 
dense  crowd,  when  a  roll  of  drums  was  heard.  This  was  re- 
garded as  a  signal  for  the  departure  of  the  soldiery;  but, 
instead  of  the  troops  withdrawing,  heavy  bodies  of  infantry 
and  cavalry  pressed  upon  the  multitude  for  the  evident  purpose 
of  clearing  the  square.  Then  two  shots  rang  from  the  infantry 
line  and  the  whole  scene  suddenly  and  frightfully  changed. 
Frantic  cries  arose:  "  We  are  betrayed!  We  are  betrayed!  "  In 
an  instant  the  mass  of  people  who  but  a  moment  before  had 
joyously  acclaimed  the  king,  dispersed  in  the  adjoining  streets 
with  the  angy  shout,  "  To  arms,  to  arms!  "  In  all  directions  the 
thoroughfares  were  soon  blocked  with  barricades.  The  paving- 
stones  seemed  to  leap  from  the  ground  and  to  form  themselves 
into  bulwarks  surmounted  by  black-red-gold  flags,  and  manned 
by  citizens,  university  students,  tradesmen,  artists,  laborers, 
professional  men — hastily  armed  with  all  sorts  of  weapons, 
from  rifles  and  shotguns  down  to  pikes,  axes  and  hammers. 
There  was  no  preparation,  no  plan,  no  system,  in  the  uprising; 
everybody  seemed  to  follow  a  common  instinct.  Then  the 
troops  were  ordered  to  the  assault.  When,  after  a  fierce  fight 
they  had  taken  one  barricade,  they  were  at  short  distances  con- 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL   SCHURZ 
fronted  by  another  and  another.  Behind  the  barricades  women 
were  busy  bringing  food  and  drink  for  the  fighters  and  caring 
for  the  wounded.  During  the  whole  night  the  city  resounded 
with  the  roar  of  cannon  and  the  rattle  of  musketry. 

The  king  seemed  at  first  sternly  determined  to  put  down 
the  insurrection  at  any  cost;  but  as  the  street  battle  proceeded 
he  became  painfully  conscious  of  its  terrible  character.  Reports 
arrived  in  rapid  succession.  He  would  now  give  an  order  to 
stop  the  fight  and  then  an  order  to  go  on.  Shortly  after  mid- 
night he  wrote  with  his  own  hand  an  address  to  "  My  dear  Ber- 
liners."  He  began  by  saying  that  the  firing  of  the  two  shots 
which  had  caused  the  excitement  had  been  a  mere  accident,  that 
a  band  of  miscreants,  mostly  foreigners,  had  taken  advantage 
of  this  misunderstanding  to  goad  many  of  his  good  subjects 
into  this  fratricidal  fight.  Then  he  promised  to  withdraw  the 
troops  as  soon  as  the  insurgents  would  remove  the  barricades, 
and  he  implored  them  "  to  listen  to  the  fatherly  voice  of  their 
king,  to  which  the  grievously  suffering  queen  joined  her  affec- 
tionate and  tearful  prayers."  But  the  address  failed  to  produce 
the  desired  effect.  It  was  accompanied  with  the  roar  of  cannon 
and  the  rattle  of  musketry,  and  the  fighting  citizens  rather  re- 
sented being  called  "  a  band  of  miscreants." 

At  last,  on  the  afternoon  of  Sunday,  the  19th  of  March, 
when  one  of  the  high  commanders  of  the  troops,  General 
Mollendorf ,  had  been  captured  by  the  citizens,  the  withdrawal 
of  the  troops  was  resolved  upon.  Peace  was  concluded  on  the 
understanding  that  the  army  should  leave  Berlin,  that  there 
should  be  freedom  of  the  press,  and  that  Prussia  should  have 
a  constitution  on  a  broad  democratic  basis.  When  the  soldiery 
had  marched  off  something  happened  that  in  dramatic  force 
and  significance  has  never  been  surpassed  in  the  history  of  revo- 
lutions. From  all  parts  of  the  city  solemn  and  silent  processions 

[120] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
moved  toward  the  royal  palace.  They  escorted  the  bodies  of 
those  of  the  people  who  had  been  killed  in  the  battle ;  tfre  corpses 
of  the  slain  were  carried  aloft  on  litters,  their  gaping  wounds 
uncovered,  their  heads  wreathed  with  laurel  branches  and  im- 
mortelles. So  the  processions  marched  into  the  inner  palace 
court,  where  the  litters  were  placed  in  rows  in  ghastly  parade, 
and  around  them  the  multitude  of  men  with  pallid  faces,  be- 
grimed with  blood  and  powder  smoke,  many  of  them  still  car- 
rying the  weapons  with  which  they  had  fought  during  the 
night;  and  among  them  women  and  children  bewailing  their 
dead.  Then  the  king  was  loudly  called  for.  He  appeared  in 
an  open  gallery,  pale  and  dejected,  by  his  side  the  weeping 
queen.  "  Hat  off!  "  the  multitude  shouted,  and  the  king  took 
off  his  hat  to  the  dead  below.  Then  a  deep  voice  among  the 
crowd  intoned  the  old  hymn,  "  Jesus,  meine  Zuversicht " — 
"  Jesus,  my  Refuge,"  in  which  all  present  joined.  The  chorus 
finished,  the  king  silently  withdrew  and  the  procession  moved 
away  in  grim  solemnity. 

This  was  a  terrible  humiliation  to  the  crown,  but  at  the 
same  time  a  pointed  answer  to  the  king's  address  in  which  the 
fighters  had  been  denounced  as  a  band  of  miscreants,  or  as 
the  seduced  victims  of  such  a  band.  Had  there  really  been 
such  miscreants,  or  persons  answering  our  present  conception 
of  anarchists,  among  them,  Frederick  William  IV.  would 
hardly  have  survived  that  terrible  moment  when  he  stood  be- 
fore them,  alone  and  defenseless,  and  they  fresh  from  the 
battlefield  with  guns  in  their  hands.  But  at  that  moment  their 
cry  was  not  "  Death  to  the  king! "  nor  "  Down  with  royalty!  " 
but  "  Jesus,  my  Refuge!  " 

Nor  was  the  history  of  those  fateful  days  tainted  by  any 
act  of  heinous  crime;  indeed,  two  private  houses  were  sacked, 
the  owners  of  which  had  been  caught  betraying  the  fighting 

[121] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
citizens  to  the  soldiery.  But  while  the  insurgents  were  in  com- 
plete control  of  large  portions  of  the  city  during  the  whole 
night,  there  was  not  a  single  case  of  theft  or  of  wanton  de- 
struction. Property  was  absolutely  safe. 

The  "  Prince  of  Prussia,"  the  oldest  brother  of  the  child- 
less king  and  presumptive  heir  to  the  throne — the  same  prince 
who  as  Kaiser  William  I.  was  in  the  course  of  events  to  be- 
come the  most  popular  monarch  of  his  time — was  reported  to 
have  given  the  order  to  fire  on  the  people,  and  the  popular 
wrath  turned  upon  him.  By  order  of  the  king  the  prince  left 
Berlin  under  cover  of  night  and  hurried  to  England.  Ex- 
cited crowds  gathered  in  front  of  his  palace  on  the  street 
"  Unter  den  Linden."  There  was  no  military  guard  to  protect 
the  building.  A  university  student  put  upon  its  front  the  in- 
scription "  National  property,"  and  it  was  not  touched.  Im- 
mediately after  the  street  battle  had  ceased  the  shops  were 
opened  again  as  in  ordinary  times. 

Arms  were  distributed  among  the  people  from  the  gov- 
ernment armories.  The  king  declared,  "  I  have  become  con- 
vinced that  the  peace  and  the  safety  of  the  city  cannot  be 
better  maintained  than  by  the  citizens  themselves."  On  the 
21st  of  March  Frederick  William  IV.  appeared  again 
among  the  people,  on  horseback,  a  black-red-gold  scarf 
around  his  arm,  a  black-red-gold  flag  at  his  request  carried 
before  him,  a  huge  tricolor  hoisted  at  the  same  moment  on 
the  royal  palace.  The  king  spoke  freely  to  the  citizens.  He 
would  "place  himself  at  the  head  of  the  movement  for  a 
united  Germany;  in  that  united  Germany  Prussia  would  be 
merged."  He  swore  that  he  wanted  nothing  but  a  "  constitu- 
tional and  united  Germany."  At  the  university  building  he 
turned  to  the  assembled  students,  saying,  "  I  thank  you  for  the 
glorious  spirit  you  have  shown  in  these  days.  I  am  proud  that 

[122] 


I 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
Germany  possesses  such  sons."  It  was  understood  that  a  new 
and  responsible  ministry  had  been  appointed,  composed  of  j 
members  of  the  liberal  opposition;  that  a  constituent  assembly 
to  be  elected  by  the  Prussian  people  should  be  convoked  to 
frame  a  constitution  for  the  kingdom  of  Prussia ;  and  a  national 
parliament  to  be  elected  by  the  people  of  all  the  German  states, 
to  meet  at  Frankfurt  for  the  purpose  of  uniting  all  Germany 
under  a  new  constitutional  government.  The  people  of  Berlin 
were  in  ecstasy. 

"  The  heroes  fallen  in  the  glorious  struggle  for  social  and 
political  liberty,"  as  the  proclamation  of  the  municipal  as- 
sembly called  them,  were  carried  for  burial  to  the  Friedrichs- 
hain  cemetery,  accompanied  by  two  hundred  thousand  citizens, 
who  took  the  coffins  past  the  royal  palace,  where  the  king  again 
stood  with  uncovered  head. 

Such  were  the  great  tidings  the  country  received  from 
Berlin.  Thus  the  cause  of  liberty  and  national  union  seemed 
to  have  achieved  a  decisive  and  irreversible  victory.  The  kings 
and  princes  themselves,  foremost  the  King  of  Prussia,  had 
solemnly  promised  to  serve  it.  The  jubilation  of  the  people 
was  without  bounds. 

Since  the  French-German  war  of  1870  and  the  establish- 
ment of  the  present  German  Empire  it  has  been  the  fashion  in 
Germany  to  scoff  at  the  year  1848,  dubbing  it  the  "  crazy 
year,"  and  to  ridicule  the  "  thoughtlessness  "  with  which  at  that 
time  great  political  programmes  were  made,  comprehensive 
demands  formulated,  and  far-reaching  movements  set  on  foot, 
to  be  followed  by  cruel  disappointments  and  catastrophes. 
But  did  the  German  people  of  1848  deserve  such  ridicule? 
True,  the  men  of  those  times  did  not  know  how  to  deal  with 
the  existing  conditions,  nor  to  carry  to  the  desired  end  the 
movement   so  victoriously  and  hopefully  begun.  It  is  equally 

[  123  ] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
true  that  the  popular  movement  was  disjointed  and  now  in 
retrospect  appears  in  certain  lights  fantastic.  But  what  rea- 
sonable person  can  wonder  at  this?  The  people,  although 
highly  developed  in  science,  philosophy,  literature  and  art, 
had  always  lived  under  a  severe  guardianship  in  all  po- 
litical matters.  They  had  never  been  out  of  leading  strings. 
They  had  observed  only  from  afar  how  the  other  nations 
exercised  their  right  to  govern  themselves,  and  managed  their 
active  participation  in  the  functions  of  the  state,  and  those 
foreign  nations  the  Germans  had  learned  to  admire  and  per- 
haps to  envy.  They  had  studied  the  theory  of  free  institutions 
in  books  and  had  watched  their  workings  in  current  news- 
paper reports.  They  had  longed  for  the  possession  of  like 
institutions  and  earnestly  striven  for  their  introduction  in  their 
own  country.  But  with  all  this  observing,  learning,  and  long- 
ing, and  striving,  the  larger  part  of  the  German  people  had 
been  excluded  by  the  prevailing  rigid  paternalism  from  prac- 
tical experience  in  the  exercise  of  political  self-government. 
They  had  not  been  permitted  to  learn  the  practical  meaning  of 
political  liberty.  They  had  never  received  or  known  the  teach- 
ings which  spring  from  the  feeling  of  responsibility  in  free 
political  action.  The  affairs  of  government  lay  outside  of  the 
customs  and  habits  of  their  lives.  Free  institutions  were  to  them 
mere  abstract  conceptions,  about  which  the  educated  and  the 
seriously  thinking  men  indulged  in  politico-philosophical  specu- 
lations, while  to  the  uneducated  and  the  superficial  they  only 
furnished  political  catchwords,  in  the  use  of  which  the  gen- 
eral discontent  with  existing  conditions  found  vent. 

Suddenly  after  a  prolonged  fermentation,  and  following 
an  impulse  from  abroad,  the  German  people  rose  up  in 
strength.  The  kings  and  princes  now  conceded  everything 
that  they  had  refused  before,  and  the  people  found  themselves 

[124] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
all  at  once  in  full  possession  of  an  unaccustomed  power.  Is  it 
to  be  wondered  at  that  these  surprising  changes  brought  forth 
some  confused  desires  and  misdirected  endeavors?  Would  it 
not  have  been  more  astonishing  if  the  people  had  at  once 
clearly  defined  and  wisely  limited  their  desires,  and  promptly 
found  the  right  means  for  the  attainment  of  the  right  objects? 
Do  we  expect  that  the  beggar  who  suddenly  becomes  a  mil- 
lionaire will  instantly  know  how  to  make  the  best  use  of  his 
unwonted  wealth?  And  yet,  it  cannot  be  said  of  the  large 
majority  of  the  German  people  that,  however  vague  their 
political  notions  may  have  been,  they  asked  in  the  revolution- 
ary movements  of  the  year  1848  in  the  main  for  anything 
that  was  unreasonable  or  unattainable.  Much  of  what  they 
at  that  period  sought  to  accomplish  has  since  been  realized. 
The  errors  committed  by  them  in  1848  were  more  in  the  means 
employed  than  in  the  ends  aimed  at.  And  the  greatest  of 
these  errors  sprang  from  the  childlike  confidence  with  which 
they  expected  the  complete  fulfillment  of  all  the  promises  which 
the  kings  and  princes,  especially  the  King  of  Prussia,  had 
made  under  stress  of  circumstances.  It  is  idle  to  indulge 
in  speculations  about  that  which  might  have  been  if  that  which 
was  had  been  different.  But  one  thing  is  certain:  If  the 
princes  had  not  permitted  themselves  to  be  seduced  by  the 
machinations  of  the  reactionary  parties  on  the  one  side,  nor 
to  be  frightened  by  occasional  popular  excesses  on  the  other, 
but  had  with  unflinching  fidelity  and  with  the  exertion 
of  all  their  power  done  that  which  in  March,  1848,  they  had 
given  the  people  reason  to  expect  of  them,  the  essential  ob- 
jects fought  for  at  that  period  would  have  proved  themselves 
entirely  practicable.  It  was  indeed  not  prudent  on  the  part  of 
the  people  in  their  enthusiastic  enjoyment  of  what  they  called 
the  "  Volkerfruhling  " — the  People's  Springtime — an  enjoy- 

[1*5] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
ment  to  which  they  gave  themselves  with  such  ingenuous  elation, 
to  cherish  that  credulous  confidence,  instead  of  assuring 
themselves  of  the  necessary  guarantees  against  a  reaction 
bound  to  come;  but  this  imprudence  sprang  from  no  ignoble 
source.  He  surely  wrongs  the  German  people  who  lays  solely 
at  their  and  their  leaders'  doors  the  responsibility  for  the  fail- 
ures of  the  years  1848-49,  overlooking  the  tergiversations  of 
the  princes. 

•  But  what  should  make  the  memory  of  that  "  springtime  " 
especially  dear  to  Germans  is  the  enthusiastic  spirit  of  self- 
sacrifice  for  the  great  cause  which  for  a  while  pervaded  almost 
every  class  of  society  with  rare  unanimity.  It  is  this  moral 
elevation  which,  even  if  sometimes  it  ran  into  fantastic  exag- 
gerations, the  German  people  should  prize  and  honor — of 
which  they  should  certainly  not  be  ashamed.  My  heart  warms 
whenever  I  think  of  those  days.  In  my  immediate  surround- 
ings I  knew  hosts  of  men  who  at  that  time  were  ready  at  any 
moment  to  abandon  and  risk  all  for  the  liberty  of  the  people 
*  and  the  greatness  of  the  fatherland.  We  ought  to  respect 
him  who  is  willing  to  throw  away  all,  even  life  itself,  for  a  good 
and  great  idea.  And  whoever,  be  it  an  individual  or  people,  has 
had  in  life  moments  of  such  self-sacrificing  enthusiasm,  should 
hold  the  memory  of  them  sacred. 

Upon  the  occasion  of  a  crowded  public  meeting  of 
university  men  in  the  "Aula,"  the  great  university  hall  at 
Bonn,  I  found  myself,  quite  unintentionally,  thrust  into  a  con- 
spicuous position  among  my  fellow-students.  I  do  not  remem- 
ber the  special  purpose  for  which  the  meeting  was  held. 
Professor  Ritschl,  our  foremost  philologist  and,  if  I  recollect 
rightly,  at  that  time  dean  of  the  philosophical  faculty,  a  very 
highly  esteemed  and  popular  man,  was  in  the  chair.  I  stood 
among  the  crowd.  I  had  thought  much  and  formed  a  decided 

[126] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
opinion  of  the  subject  which  was  under  discussion,  but  did 
not  attend  the  meeting  with  the  intention  of  taking  part  in 
the  debate.  Suddenly  I  heard  some  of  the  speakers  say  some- 
thing very  repugnant  to  my  feelings,  and  following  a  sudden 
impulse,  I  found  myself  the  next  moment  speaking  to  the  as- 
sembly. I  have  never  been  able  to  recollect  what  I  said.  I  only 
remember  that  I  was  in  a  nervous  condition  until  then  entirely 
unknown  to  me;  that  thoughts  and  words  came  to  me  in  an 
uninterrupted  flow;  that  I  spoke  with  vehement  rapidity, 
and  that  the  applause  following  my  speech  wakened  me  out 
of  something  like  a  dream.  This  was  my  first  public  speech. 
When  the  meeting  had  adjourned  I  met  at  the  exit  of  the 
hall  Professor  Bitschl.  As  I  attended  some  of  his  lectures 
he  knew  me.  He  put  his  hand  upon  my  shoulder  and  asked: 

"  How  old  are  you?  " 

"  Nineteen  years." 

'Too  bad;  still  too  young  for  our  new  German  parlia- 
ment." 

I  blushed  all  over;  that  I  should  become  a  member  of 
any  parliament — that  was  a  thought  to  which  my  ambition  had 
never  soared.  I  feared  the  good  professor  had  permitted  him- 
self to  joke  with  me. 

Before  long  I  was  again  in  the  foreground.  Like  all  other 
orders  of  society  in  those  days,  we  university  men  had  our 
peculiar  grievances  which  in  the  "  new  time  "  were  to  be  re- 
dressed. The  Prussian  Government  kept  at  the  universities 
an  official  one  of  whose  principal  duties  it  was  to  watch  the 
political  tendencies  of  professors  and  students.  This  office  had 
been  created  at  the  time  of  the  "  persecution  of  demagogues," 
after  the  notorious  ministerial  conferences  at  Carlsbad,  and 
was  therefore  in  bad  odor  with  liberal-minded  men.  The  officer 
in  question  was  at  that  time  Herr  von  Bethmann  Hollweg. 

[127] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
More  on  account  of  his  duties  than  of  his  personal  qualities 
he  was  highly  unpopular  with  the  students.  We  thought  that 
such  an  officer,  a  product  of  the  period  of  deepest  degradation, 
did  not  fit  the  new  order  of  things  and  must  speedily  be  abol- 
ished. A  meeting  of  students  was  therefore  called  at  the 
riding  academy,  from  which*  our  object  having  been  rumored 
about,  the  professors  prudently  absented  themselves.  My 
impromptu  speech  in  the  Aula  caused  my  election  as  president 
of  this  meeting.  We  resolved  to  present  an  address  to  the 
academic  senate,  demanding  that  the  officer  in  question  should 
at  once  be  removed.  As  chairman  of  the  meeting  I  was  charged 
with  the  duty^to  write  the  address  on  the  spot.  This  was  done. 
It  was  couched  in  very  peremptory  language  and  consisted 
only  of  four  or  five  lines.  The  meeting  approved  it  forthwith, 
and  resolved — as  in  those  days  we  loved  to  do  things  in  dra- 
matic style — to  proceed  in  mass  to  the  house  of  the  rector  of 
the  university  and  personally  to  present  the  paper  to  him.  So 
we  marched,  seven  or  eight  hundred  men,  in  dense  column,  to 
the  dwelling  of  the  rector  and  rang  the  bell.  The  rector,  Herr 
van  Calker,  professor  of  philosophy,  an  oldish,  anxious-looking 
little  man,  soon  appeared  on  the  doorstep,  and  I  read  to  him 
the  energetic  sentences  of  our  address.  For  a  moment  he  tim- 
idly looked  at  the  crowd  of  students,  and  then  told  us  in  halting 
and  stammering  phrases  how  rejoiced  he  was  to  behold  the 
soaring  spirit  of  German  youth  and  how  the  students  could 
accomplish  in  these  important  days  great  things,  and  that  he 
would  be  happy  to  submit  our  address  to  the  academic  senate 
and  to  the  government  for  speedy  consideration  and  adjust- 
ment. We  read  upon  the  face  of  the  good  little  man,  toward 
whom  everyone  of  us  felt  most  kindly,  that  he  contemplated 
the  soaring  spirit  of  German  youth  with  a  certain  uneasiness, 
thanked  him  for  his  good-will,  took  our  leave  politely  and 

[128] 


CARL    SCHURZ    AT    NINETEEN 


„   THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
marched  back  to  the  market-square.  There  it  was  reported  to 
us — whether  truly  or  not — that  during  our  visit  to  the  rector 
the  unpopular  officer  in  question  had  speedily  packed  his  trunks 
and  already  left  the  town. 

While  the  jubilation  over  the  "  Marzerrungenschaften  " 
— the  results  of  the  revolutionary  movements  in  March— at 
first  seemed  to  be  general,  and  even  the  adherents  of  absolutism 
put  a  good  face  on  a  bad  business,  soon  a  separation  into  dif- 
ferent party-groups  began  between  those  whose  principal  aim 
was  the  restoration  of  order  and  authority — the  conservatives; 
those  who  wished  slow  and  moderate  progress — the  constitu- 
tionalists; and  those  who  aimed  at  securing  the  fruits  of  the 
revolution  in  "  a  constitutional  government  on  the  broadest 
democratic  basis  " — the  democrats.  Instinctive  impulse  as  well 
as  logical  reasoning  led  me  to  the  democratic  side.  There  I  met 
Kinkel  again,  and  our  friendship  soon  became  very  intimate. 
In  the  course  of  our  common  activity  the  formal  relations  be- 
tween teacher  and  pupil  yielded  to  a  tone  of  thorough  com- 
radeship. 

In  the  beginning  the  zealous  work  of  agitation  absorbed 
almost  all  our  time  and  strength.  Kinkel,  indeed,  still  deliv- 
ered his  lectures,  and  I  also  attended  mine  with  tolerable  regu- 
larity; but  my  heart  was  not  in  them  as  before.  All  the  more 
eagerly  I  studied  modern  history,  especially  the  history  of  the 
French  Revolution,  and  read  a  large  number  of  politico-philo- 
sophical works  and  of  pamphlets  and  periodicals  of  recent 
date,  which  treated  of  the  problems  of  the  time.  In  this  way 
I  endeavored  to  clear  my  political  conceptions  and  to  fill  the 
large  gaps  in  my  historical  knowledge — a  want  which  I  felt 
all  the  more  seriously  as  my  task  as  an  agitator  was  to  me  a 
sacred  duty. 

First  we  organized  a  democratic  club  consisting  of  citi- 

[  129  ] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
zens  and  students,  which  found  in  the  so-called  Constitutional 
Club,  led  by  Professor  Lobell,  a  very  able  man,  a  most  re- 
spectable opponent.  Then  we  founded  a  local  organ  for  the 
democratic  party,  the  Bonner  Zeitung,  a  daily  paper,  the  edit- 
orship of  which  was  undertaken  by  Kinkel,  while  I,  as  a 
regular  contributor,  had  to  furnish  every  day  one  or  more 
articles.  And  finally,  once  or  twice  a  week,  in  fact  as  often  as 
we  could,  we  marched  out  to  the  neighboring  villages  to 
preach  to  the  country  people  the  political  gospel  of  the  new 
time,  and  also  to  organize  them  into  democratic  clubs. 
Undoubtedly,  the  nineteen-year-old  journalist  and  speaker 
brought  forth  a  great  deal  of  undigested  stuff,  but  he  believed 
sincerely  and  warmly  in  his  cause  and  would  have  been  ready 
at  any  time  to  sacrifice  himself  for  it. 

My  activity  in  this  direction,  however,  soon  after  its  begin- 
ning came  very  near  a  sudden  stop.  Long  before  the  breaking 
out  of  the  revolution  of  March,  the  people  of  the  Duchies  of 
Schleswig  and  Holstein  had  made  great  efforts,  while  being 
united  with  Denmark  by  a  "  personal  union,"  to  win  a  politi- 
cally independent  existence.  In  March,  1848,  the  people  of  those 
Duchies  rose  in  mass  to  the  end  of  securing  this  independent 
position,  and  of  making  not  only  Holstein,  but  also  Schleswig 
a  part  of  the  German  Confederation.  This  uprising  awakened 
in  all  Germany  the  liveliest  sympathy,  and  in  various  places 
efforts  were  made  to  raise  volunteer  troops  for  the  assistance 
of  the  people  of  the  Duchies  against  the  Danes.  Especially  at 
the  universities  these  efforts  struck  a  responsive  chord,  and 
students  in  large  numbers  went  to  Schleswig-Holstein  to  join 
the  volunteer  organizations.  My  first  impulse  was  to  do  like- 
wise. I  was  already  engaged  in  serious  preparations  for  de- 
parture when  Kinkel  persuaded  me  to  desist,  because  the  libera- 
tion of  Schleswig-Holstein  from  the  Danish  yoke  would  be 

[130] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
recognized  by  the  German  Parliament  and  the  German  gov- 
ernments as  a  national  cause,  and  the  Prussian  and  other  regu- 
lar troops  would  do  much  better  service  in  the  war  than  the 
loosely  organized  and  badly  drilled  bodies  of  hastily  gathered 
volunteers.  Neither  did  he  conceal  from  me  that  he  was  anxious 
to  keep  me  with  him  in  Bonn,  where,  as  he  sought  to  convince 
me,  I  could  do  the  Fatherland  much  better  service  in  the  way  of 
agitation  for  our  cause.  As  it  turned  out,  the  volunteer  organi- 
zations formed  by  students  fought  right  bravely  in  Schleswig- 
Holstein,  but  when  facing  the  superior  discipline  and  tactics 
of  the  Danish  troops,  found  themselves  exposed  to  all  sorts  of 
ugly  accidents.  The  service  so  rendered  was  therefore  in  no 
proportion  to  the  sacrifices  made  by  their  members.  The  re- 
ports brought  by  several  students  who,  after  having  served  in 
Schleswig-Holstein  for  a  little  time,  returned  to  the  universi- 
ties, consoled  me  for  the  restraint  I  had  put  upon  my  warlike 
ardor. 

Several  of  these  Schleswig-Holstein  volunteers  came  to 
Bonn,  and  among  them  Adolph  Strodtmann,  who  at  a  later 
period  achieved  in  German  literature  a  respectable  place.  He 
became  my  near  personal  friend,  and  will  appear  as  such  in  this 
story  of  my  life  on  various  occasions.  He  was  the  son  of  a 
Protestant  clergyman  in  Hadersleben,  a  little  town  in  the 
Duchy  of  Schleswig.  Father  and  son  were  enthusiastic  adher- 
ents of  the  pro-German  national  cause,  and  young  Adolph,  who 
shortly  before  the  outbreak  of  the  Schleswig-Holstein  uprising 
had  left  the  gymnasium,  joined  at  once  a  corps  of  student-vol- 
unteers. He  was  unfit  for  military  service  in  a  rare  degree,  for 
he  was  not  only  very  nearsighted,  but  also  of  imperfect  hearing. 
He  told  us  frequently  with  great  humor  of  his  only  martial 
achievement.  One  morning  the  corps  of  students  was  surprised 
in  their  camp  by  the  Danes  and  roughly  handled.  Strodtmann 

[131] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
noticed  the  general  tumult  and  concluded  that  something  ex- 
traordinary was  the  matter.  The  orders  which  were  given  he 
did  not  understand;  but  he  joined  the  crowd  of  others  and  soon 
found  himself  alone  enveloped  in  powder-smoke.  "  Then,"  he 
added,  "  I  fired  my  rifle  twice,  but  do  not  know  to  this  moment 
whether  in  the  right  or  wrong  direction.  I  was  so  nearsighted 
that  I  could  not  distinguish  the  Danes  from  our  people.  I  al- 
most fear  that  I  fired  in  the  wrong  direction,  for  suddenly 
I  felt  something  like  a  heavy  blow  in  my  back;  I  fell  and  re- 
mained on  the  ground  until  the  Danes  lifted  me  up  and  took 
me  away.  It  was  found  that  a  bullet  had  hit  me  in  the  back 
and  had  gone  straight  through  me.  Of  course  only  a  Dane 
could  have  shot  me  in  the  back,  and  inasmuch  as  I  always  re- 
mained in  the  one  spot  during  the  fight,  I  must  have  turned  my 
back  towards  the  Danes  and  fired  off  my  rifle  in  the  direction  of 
our  own  people."  Dangerously  wounded,  Strodtmann  was 
taken  to  the  "  Dronning  Maria,"  the  Danish  prison-ship,  and 
after  a  little  while  exchanged.  After  a  speedy  recovery  he  came 
to  the  University  of  Bonn,  to  study  languages  and  literature. 
His  physical  infirmities  made  him  a  somewhat  singular  per- 
son. His  deafness  caused  all  sorts  of  funny  misunderstandings, 
at  which  he  usually  was  the  first  to  laugh.  He  spoke  with  a  very 
loud  voice  as  if  the  rest  of  us  had  been  as  deaf  as  he  was  him- 
self. In  consequence  of  his  wound  he  had  accustomed  himself 
in  walking  to  put  one  shoulder  forward  so  that  he  always  looked 
as  if  he  were  squeezing  himself  through  an  invisible  crowd  of 
people,  and  he  was  at  the  same  time  so  inattentive  that  he  ran 
against  all  possible  objects.  But  he  was  a  most  sincere  and 
honest  enthusiast;  of  almost  childlike  ingenuousness  in  his 
views  of  men,  things,  and  events;  in  a  high  degree  capable  of 
self-sacrifice  and  open  to  generous  and  noble  impulses.  His 
gifts    as    well    as    his    inclinations    made    him    devote    him- 

[132] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
self  to  literature.  His  verses,  which  he  produced  in  great 
profusion  and  with  uncommon  facility,  excelled  less  by  orig- 
inality of  thought  or  fancy,  than  by  an  abundant  and  superb 
flow  of  poetical  expression.  It  was  largely  owing  to  this  talent 
that  he  subsequently  wrote  some  admirable  translations  of 
French,  English  and  Danish  poetry  and  prose.  His  political 
instincts  were  strongly  democratic,  and  he  joined  the  agitation 
led  by  Kinkel  with  great  zeal.  It  was  thus  that  he  and  I 
became  fast  friends. 


[  133  ] 


CHAPTER   VI 

1  HE  political  horizon  which  after  the  revolution  in  March 
looked  so  glorious  soon  began  to  darken.  In  South  Germany, 
where  the  opinion  had  gained  ground  that  the  revolution 
should  not  have  "  stood  still  before  the  thrones,"  a  republican 
uprising  took  place  under  the  leadership  of  the  brilliant  and 
impetuous  Hecker,  which,  however,  was  speedily  suppressed 
by  force  of  arms.  In  the  country  at  large  such  attempts  found 
at  first  little  sympathy.  The  bulk  of  the  liberal  element  did  not 
desire  anything  beyond  the  establishment  of  national  unity 
and  a  constitutional  monarchy  "  on  a  broad  democratic  basis." 
But  the  republican  sentiment  gradually  spread  and  was  inten- 
sified as  the  "  reaction  "  assumed  a  more  and  more  threatening 
shape. 

The  national  parliament  at  Frankfurt  elected  in  the 
spring,  which  represented  the  sovereignty  of  the  German 
people  in  the  large  sense  and  was  to  give  to  the  united  Ger- 
man nation  a  national  government,  counted  among  its  mem- 
bers a  great  many  men  illustrious  in  the  fields,  not  of  politics, 
but  of  science  and  literature.  It  soon  showed  a  dangerous  ten- 
dency of  squandering  in  brilliant,  but  more  or  less  fruitless, 
debates  much  of  the  time  which  was  sorely  needed  for  prompt 
and  decisive  action  to  secure  the  legitimate  results  of  the  revo- 
lution against  hostile  forces. 

But  our  eyes  were  turned  still  more  anxiously  upon  Ber- 
lin. Prussia  was  by  far  the  strongest  of  the  purely  German 
states.  The  Austrian  empire  was  a  conglomeration  of  differ- 
ent nationalities — German,  Magyar,  Slavic  and  Italian.  The 

[  134  ] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
German  element,  to  which  the  dynasty  and  the  political  capital 
belonged,  had  so  far  been  the  predominant  one.  It  was  most 
advanced  in  civilization  and  wealth,  although  inferior  in  num- 
bers. But  the  Slavs,  the  Magyars  and  the  Italians,  stimu- 
lated by  the  revolutionary  movements  of  1848,  were  striving 
for  national  autonomy,  and  although  Austria  had  Tield  the 
foremost  place  in  the  later  periods  of  the  ancient  German  em- 
pire and  then  after  the  Napoleonic  wars  in  the  German 
Confederacy,  it  seemed  problematic  whether  her  large  non- 
German  interests  would  permit  her  to  play  a  leading  part  now 
in  the  political  unification  of  Germany  under  a  constitutional 
government.  In  fact,  it  turned  out  subsequently  that  the 
mutual  jealousies  of  the  different  races  enabled  the  Austrian 
central  government  to  subjugate  to  despotic  rule  one  by  the 
other,  in  spite  of  the  hopeful  beginnings  of  the  revolution,  and 
that  the  non-German  interests  of  Austria  and  those  of  the 
dynasty  were  predominant  in  her  policy.  But  Prussia,  except- 
ing a  comparatively  small  Polish  district,  was  a  purely  Ger- 
man country,  and  by  far  the  strongest  among  the  German 
states  in  point  of  numbers,  of  general  education,  of  economic 
activity  and  especially  of  military  power.  It  was,  therefore, 
generally  felt  that  the  attitude  of  Prussia  would  be  decisive 
in  determining  the  fate  of  the  revolution. 

For  a  while  the  Prussian  king,  Frederick  William  IV., 
seemed  to  be  pleased  with  the  role  of  a  leader  in  the  national 
movement  which  the  revolution  had  made  him  assume.  His 
volatile  nature  seemed  to  be  warmed  by  a  new  enthusiasm.  He 
took  walks  on  the  streets  and  talked  freely  with  the  people. 
He  spoke  of  constitutional  principles  of  government  to  be  in- 
troduced as  a  matter  of  course.  He  loudly  praised  the  noble 
generosity  which  the  people  of  Berlin  had  manifested  toward 
him  in  the  hours  of  stress.  He  ordered  the  army  to  wear  the 

[135] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
black-red-gold  cockade  together  with  the  Prussian.  On  the 
parade  ground  at  Potsdam  he  declared  to  the  sulking  officers 
of  the  guards  "  that  he  felt  himself  perfectly  safe,  free  and 
happy  among  the  citizens  of  Berlin;  that  all  the  concessions 
made  by  him  had  been  made  of  his  own  free  will  and  according 
to  his  own  convictions,  and  that  nobody  should  dare  to  ques- 
tion this."  But  when  the  Prussian  constituent  assembly  had 
met  in  Berlin  and  began  to  pass  laws,  and  to  design  constitu- 
tional provisions,  and  to  interfere  with  the  conduct  of  the 
government  in  the  spirit  of  the  revolution,  the  king's  mind 
gradually  opened  itself  to  other  influences,  and  those  influ- 
ences gained  access  to  him  and  surrounded  him  all  the  more 
readily  since  he  removed  his  residence  from  Berlin  to  his 
palace  at  Potsdam,  a  little  town  preponderantly  inhabited  by 
courtiers  and  soldiers  and  other  dependents  of  the  govern- 
ment. Thus  the  king's  immediate  contact  with  the  people 
ceased,  his  conferences  with  the  newly  appointed  liberal  min- 
isters were  confined  to  short  formal  "  audiences,"  and  voices 
appealing  to  old  sympathies,  prepossessions  and  partialities 
were  constantly  nearest  to  his  ear. 

There  was  the  army,  traditionally  the  pet  of  the  Hohen- 
zollerns,  smarting  under  the  "  disgrace  "  of  its  withdrawal 
from  Berlin  after  the  street  battle,  and  pining  for  revenge 
and  restoration  of  its  prestige.  There  was  the  court  nobility, 
whose  business  it  always  had  been  to  exalt  and  flatter  the  royal 
person.  There  was  the  landed  aristocracy,  the  "  Junker  "  ele- 
ment, whose  feudal  privileges  were  theoretically  denied  by  the 
revolutionary  spirit  and  practically  invaded  by  the  legislative 
action  of  the  representatives  of  the  people,  and  who  artfully 
goaded  the  king's  pride.  There  was  the  old  bureaucracy,  the 
power  of  which  had  been  broken  by  the  revolution,  although 
its  personnel  had  but  little  been  changed,  and  which  sought  to 

[136] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
recover  its  former  sway.  There  was  the  "  old  Prussian  "  spirit 
which  resented  any  national  aspirations  that  might  encroach 
upon  the  importance  and  self -appreciation  of  specific  Prus- 
siandom,  and  which  still  had  strength  in  the  country  im- 
mediately surrounding  Berlin  and  in  some  of  the  eastern 
provinces.  All  these  forces,  which  in  a  general  term  were  pop- 
ularly called  "  the  reaction,"  worked  together  to  divert  the 
king  from  the  course  he  had  ostensibly  taken  immediately 
after  the  revolution  of  March,  with  the  hope  of  using  him 
for  the  largest  possible  restoration  of  the  old  order  of  things 
— well  knowing  that  if  they  controlled  him,  they  would, 
through  him,  control  the  army,  and  then  with  it  a  tremendous, 
perhaps  decisive,  force  in  the  conflicts  to  come.  And  this 
"  reaction "  was  greatly  strengthened  by  the  cunning  ex- 
ploitation of  some  street  excesses  that  happened  in  Berlin — 
excesses  which  in  a  free  country  like  England  might,  indeed, 
have  brought  forth  some  vigorous  measures  of  repression  by 
the  police,  but  would  certainly  not  have  induced  anybody  to  call 
the  practicability  of  civil  freedom  or  of  the  constitutional 
principles  of  government  in  question.  But  these  occurrences 
were  used  in  Prussia  with  considerable  effect  to  frighten  the 
timid  men  of  the  bourgeoisie  with  the  specter  of  general  an- 
archy, and  to  persuade  the  king  that  after  all  the  restoration 
of  unrestrained  royal  power  was  necessary  for  the  mainte- 
nance of  law  and  order. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  visible  development  of  the  reaction 
had  the  effect  of  producing  among  many  of  those  who  stood 
earnestly  for  national  unity  and  constitutional  government,  a 
state  of  mind  more  open  to  radical  tendencies.  The  rapid 
progress  of  these  developments  was  clearly  perceptible  in  my 
own  surroundings.  Our  democratic  club  was  composed  in  al- 
most equal  parts  of  students  and  citizens,  among  whom  there 

[137] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
were  many  of  excellent  character,  of  some  fortune  and  good 
standing,  and  of  moderate  views,  while  a  few  others  had  worked 
themselves  into  a  state  of  mind  resembling  that  of  the  terror- 
ists in  the  French  Revolution.  Kinkel  was  the  recognized 
leader  of  the  club,  and  I  soon  became  a  member  of  the  execu- 
tive committee.  At  first  the  establishment  of  a  constitutional 
monarchy  with  universal  suffrage  and  well-secured  civil  rights 
would  have  been  quite  satisfactory  to  us.  But  the  reaction,  the 
threatened  rise  of  which  we  were  observing,  gradually  made 
many  of  us  believe  that  there  was  no  safety  for  popular  lib- 
erty except  in  a  republic.  From  this  belief  there  was  only  one 
step  to  the  further  conclusion,  that  in  a  republic,  and  only  in 
a  republic,  all  evils  of  the  social  body  could  be  cured,  and  the 
solution  of  all  the  political  problems  would  be  possible.  The 
idealism  which  saw  in  the  republican  citizen  the  highest  em- 
bodiment of  human  dignity  we  had  imbibed  from  the  study 
of  classic  antiquity;  and  the  history  of  the  French  Revolution 
satisfied  us  that  a  republic  could  be  created  in  Germany  and 
could  maintain  its  existence  in  the  European  system  of  states. 
In  that  history  we  found  striking  examples  of  the  possibility 
of  accomplishing  the  seemingly  impossible,  if  only  the  whole 
energy  resting  in  a  great  nation  were  awakened  and  directed 
with  unflinching  boldness.  Most  of  us  indeed  recoiled  from 
the  wild  excesses  which  had  stained  with  streams  of  innocent 
blood  the  national  uprising  in  France  during  the  Reign  of 
Terror.  But  we  hoped  to  stir  up  the  national  energies  without 
such  terrorism.  At  any  rate  the  history  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion furnished  to  us  models  in  plenty  that  mightily  excited  our 
imagination.  How  dangerously  seductive  such  a  play  of  the 
imagination  is,  we  were  of  course  then  unaware. 

As  usually  happens,  we  tried  first  to  imitate  our  models 
in  certain  external  things.   To   emphasize  the  principle   of 

[138] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
equality  among  the  members  of  our  club,  we  introduced  the 
rule  that  there  should  be  for  all,  however  different  might  be 
their  rank  in  life,  only  one  form  of  address,  namely,  "  citi- 
zen." There  was  to  be  no  longer  a  "  Herr  Professor  Kinkel," 
but  only  a  "  Citizen  Kinkel,"  and  so  on  through  the  list.  We 
did  not  permit  ourselves  to  be  disturbed  by  the  ridicule  which 
this  oddity  attracted,  for  we  were  profoundly  in  earnest,  sin- 
cerely believing  that  by  the  introduction  of  this  style  we  could 
give  tone  to  the  developments  which  would  inevitably  come. 
Of  the  debates  in  our  club  my  recollection  is  not  distinct 
enough  to  say  how  much  reason  or  how  much  unreason  there 
was  in  them.  At  all  events  they  were  carried  on  sometimes 
with  remarkably  eloquent  earnestness,  because  most  of  the  par- 
ticipants spoke  from  genuine  honesty  of  conviction. 

In  the  course  of  the  summer  Kinkel  and  I  were  invited 
to  represent  the  club  at  a  congress  of  democratic  associations 
in  Cologne.  This  assembly,  in  which  I  remained  a  shy  and 
silent  observer,  became  remarkable  to  me  in  bringing  me  into 
personal  contact  with  some  of  the  prominent  men  of  that 
period,  among  others,  the  leader  of  the  communists,  Karl 
Marx.  He  could  not  have  been  much  more  than  thirty  years 
old  at  that  time,  but  he  already  was  the  recognized  head  of 
the  advanced  socialistic  school.  The  somewhat  thick-set  man, 
with  his  broad  forehead,  his  very  black  hair  and  beard  and  his 
dark  sparkling  eyes,  at  once  attracted  general  attention.  He 
enjoyed  the  reputation  of  having  acquired  great  learning,  and 
as  I  knew  very  little  of  his  discoveries  and  theories,  I  was  all 
the  more  eager  to  gather  words-  of  wisdom  from  the  lips  of  that 
famous  man.  This  expectation  was  disappointed  in  a  peculiar 
way.  Marx's  utterances  were  indeed  full  of  meaning,  logical 
and  clear,  but  I  have  never  seen  a  man  whose  bearing  was  so 
provoking  and  intolerable.  To  no  opinion,  which  differed  from 

[139] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
his,  he  accorded  the  honor  of  even  a  condescending  consider- 
ation. Everyone  who  contradicted  him  he  treated  with  abject 
contempt;  every  argument  that  he  did  not  like  he  answered 
either  with  biting  scorn  at  the  unfathomable  ignorance  that  had 
prompted  it,  or  with  opprobrious  aspersions  upon  the  motives  of 
him  who  had  advanced  it.  I  remember  most  distinctly  the  cut- 
ting disdain  with  which  he  pronounced  the  word  "  bourgeois  " ; 
and  as  a  "  bourgeois,"  that  is  as  a  detestable  example  of  the 
deepest  mental  and  moral  degeneracy  he  denounced  everyone 
that  dared  to  oppose  his  opinion.  Of  course  the  propositions 
advanced  or  advocated  by  Marx  in  that  meeting  were  voted 
down,  because  everyone  whose  feelings  had  been  hurt  by  his 
conduct  was  inclined  to  support  everything  that  Marx  did  not 
favor.  It  was  very  evident  that  not  only  he  had  not  won  any 
adherents,  but  had  repelled  many  who  otherwise  might  have 
become  his  followers. 

From  this  meeting  I  took  home  with  me  a  very  important 
lesson :  that  he  who  would  be  a  leader  and  teacher  of  men  must 
treat  the  opinions  of  his  hearers  with  respect;  that  even  the 
most  superior  mind  will  lose  influence  upon  others  if  he  seeks 
to  humiliate  those  others  by  constant  demonstrations  of  his 
superiority.  That  public  man  will  be  most  successful  in  en- 
lightening and  winning  the  ignorant  who  puts  himself  upon 
their  standpoint,  not  with  condescension,  but  with  sympathy. 

On  the  whole  the  summer  of  1848  was  to  me  a  time  of 
work  and  worry.  The  newspaper  for  which  I  had  to  write 
articles,  the  agitation  in  clubs  and  popular  meetings,  and  be- 
sides my  studies,  imposed  upon  me  a  very  heavy  burden  of 
labor,  in  which — I  must  confess — my  studies  fell  into  a  some- 
what subordinate  place.  What  troubled  me  most  was  the  visi- 
bly and  constantly  growing  power  of  the  reactionary  forces 
and  the  frittering  away  of  the  opportunities  to  create  some- 

[140] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
thing  real  and  durable,  by  the  national  parliament  in  Frank- 
furt and  by  the  assembly  in  Berlin.  I  remember  well  to  have 
carried  with  me  an  oppressive  consciousness  of  my  own 
ignorance  in  political  things,  which  was  the  more  painful  the 
more  urgent  appeared  the  necessity  for  the  people  to  be  pre- 
pared for  prudent  and  energetic  action  in  the  decisive  strug- 
gles which  impended. 

Our  activity,  however,  had  also  a  cheerful  side  of  which 
my  youthful  spirits  were  keenly  susceptible.  We  students  en- 
joyed with  the  country-people  a  very  great  popularity,  and 
even  persons  who  did  not  sympathize  with  us  politically  re- 
ceived us  with  a  kindness  which  sometimes  was  so  exuberant 
as  to  make  our  presence  the  occasion  of  gay  festivities. 

The  most  interesting  event  of  those  days  which  I  have 
cherished  in  my  memory  was  the  student-congress  in  Eisen- 
ach, which  occurred  in  September,  1848,  and  which  I  attended 
as  one  of  the  chosen  representatives  of  the  university  men  of 
Bonn.  This  was  the  first  long  journey  of  my  life.  I  had  never 
before  been  far  enough  away  from  my  paternal  roof  that  I 
might  not  have  returned  in  a  few  hours.  On  a  bright  Septem- 
ber morning  I  sailed  up  the  Rhine  from  Bonn  to  Mainz.  I 
should  have  enjoyed  it  with  the  fullness  of  youthful  spirits 
had  I  been  able  to  drive  away  the  disquieting  thoughts  which 
were  stirred  up  by  confused  rumors  of  a  riot  and  street-battle 
in  Frankfurt.  In  fact,  upon  my  arrival  in  that  city  I  found 
those  rumors  distressingly  verified. 

The  revolt  in  Frankfurt  was  the  outcome  of  the  follow- 
ing events.  I  have  already  mentioned  that  the  popular  up- 
rising in  the  duchies  of  Holstein  and  Schleswig  against  the 
Danish  rule  had  been  sanctioned  as  a  national  cause  by  the  old 
Diet  of  the  German  Confederation,  and  then  by  the  national 
parliament   and   by    all   the    several    German    governments. 

[  141  ] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
Prussian  and  other  German  troops  had  marched  into  the 
duchies  and  won  considerable  advantages  over  the  Danish 
army  on  the  field  of  battle.  Everything  promised  a  speedy 
and  happy  termination  of  the  war.  It  was  therefore  a  painful 
surprise  when  the  Prussian  government,  whose  head,  Fred- 
erick William  IV.,  had  as  usual  permitted  himself  to  be  intimi- 
dated by  the  other  European  powers,  concluded  in  the  name 
of  the  German  Confederation  a  truce  with  Denmark — the  so- 
called  "  truce  of  Malmo  " — in  which  it  was  agreed  that  the 
victorious  German  troops  were  to  retire  from  the  duchies, 
that  the  duchies  were  to  lose  their  own  provisional  govern-* 
ment,  and  that  a  commission  composed  of  two  Prussians,  two 
Danes  and  a  fifth  member  to  be  elected  by  them  was  to  govern 
the  disputed  country.  At  the  same  time  all  the  laws  and  ordi- 
nances that  had  been  issued  by  the  Schleswig-Holstein  au- 
thorities since  the  days  of  March,  1848,  were  declared  invalid. 
This  truce  called  forth  the  greatest  indignation  all  over  Ger- 
many. The  representative  assembly  of  Schleswig-Holstein 
protested.  The  national  parliament  in  Frankfurt,  which  saw 
not  only  the  honor  of  Germany  greviously  compromised,  but 
its  own  authority  overruled  by  these  proceedings  of  the 
Prussian  government,  resolved  on  September  5  to  refuse  the 
recognition  of  the  truce  of  Malmo  and  to  demand  the  suspen- 
sion of  all  the  measures  stipulated  therein.  But  after  several 
failures  to  form  a  new  ministry  on  the  basis  of  this  resolution, 
and  not  daring  to  bring  the  question  of  authority  between 
itself  and  the  Prussian  government  to  a  direct  issue,  the  par- 
liament revoked  the  resolution  of  September  5,  ten  days  later, 
and  declared  at  the  same  time  that  the  execution  of  the  truce  of 
Malmo  could  apparently  no  longer  be  hindered.  This  declara- 
tion, which  seemed  to  strike  the  sympathies  of  the  German 
people  full  in  the  face,  caused  immense  excitement,  of  which 

[142] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
the  revolutionary  leaders  in  Frankfurt  and  the  surrounding 
country  at  once  took  advantage.  On  the  next  day  a  large 
mass  meeting  was  held  on  a  meadow  near  Frankfurt.  Inflam- 
matory speeches  goaded  the  passions  of  the  multitude  to  fury, 
and  the  meeting  adopted  resolutions  by  which  the  members  of 
the  majority  of  the  national  parliament  in  Frankfurt  were 
branded  as  traitors  to  the  German  nation.  Troops  of  armed 
democrats  poured  in  from  all  sides,  and  an  attempt  was  made 
to  force  the  parliament  to  revoke  the  hateful  declaration,  or  to 
drive  out  the  traitorous  majority.  Two  prominent  conser- 
vative members  of  the  parliament,  Count  Auerswald  and 
Prince  Lichnowsky,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  revolutionists 
and  were  killed;  and  then  followed  a  bloody  struggle  in  the 
streets  of  Frankfurt,  in  which  the  insurgents  soon  succumbed 
to  the  quickly  concentrated  troops. 

When  on  my  way  to  Eisenach  I  arrived  in  Frankfurt,  the 
victorious  soldiery  still  bivouacked  on  the  streets  around  their 
burning  campfires;  the  barricades  had  not  yet  been  removed; 
the  pavement  was  still  stained  with  blood,  and  everywhere  the 
heavy  tramp  of  military  patrols  was  heard.  With  difficulty  I 
made  my  way  to  the  hotel  "  Zum  Schwan,"  where  I  was  to 
meet,  according  to  agreement,  some  Heidelberg  students,  in 
order  to  continue  in  their  company  the  journey  to  Eisenach. 
With  hearts  full  of  gloom  we  sat  together  deep  into  the  night, 
for  we  all  felt  that  the  cause  of  liberty  and  of  popular  sover- 
eignty had  received  a  terrible  blow.  The  royal  Prussian 
government  had  successfully  defied  the  national  parliament, 
which  represented  the  sovereignty  of  the  German  nation. 
Those  who  called  themselves  "  the  people  "  had  made  a  hostile 
attempt  upon  the  embodiment  of  popular  sovereignty  which 
had  issued  from  the  revolution,  and  this  embodiment  of  popu- 
lar sovereignty  had  been  obliged  to  call  upon  the  armed  forces 

[143] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
of  the  princes   for  protection   against  the  hatred  of  "the 
people."  Thus    the    backbone    of    the    revolution     begun    in 
March,  1848,  was  substantially  broken.  We  young  students 
indeed  did  not  see  so  far.  But  we  felt  that  terrible  mischief 

4 

had  been  done.  Our  youthful  spirits,  however,  consoled  them- 
selves with  the  hope  that  what  was  lost  might  still  be  recovered 
by  well-directed  and  energetic  action  under  more  favorable 
circumstances. 

The  next  day  I  visited  with  some  of  my  friends  the  gal- 
lery of  St.  Paul's  Church,  in  which  the  national  parliament 
held  its  sessions.  With  that  profound  reverence,  the  organ  of 
which  (to  express  myself  in  the  language  of  phrenology)  has 
always  been  with  me  very  strongly  developed,  I  looked  at  that 
historic  spot,  in  which  the  fate  of  the  revolution  of  1848  was 
already  foretold.  On  "  the  right "  there  sat,  with  a  smile  of 
triumph  on  their  lips,  men  whose  principal  aim  it  was  to  restore 
the  old  order  of  things ;  in  "  the  center  "  the  advocates  of  a 
liberal  constitutional  monarchy,  tormented  by  anxious  doubt 
as  to  whether  they  could  control  the  revolutionary  tendencies 
without  making  the  absolutist  reaction  all-powerful;  on  "the 
left "  the  democrats  and  republicans  with  the  oppressive  con- 
sciousness that  the  masses  of  the  people,  in  whom  they  were  to 
find  the  source  of  their  power,  had  grievously  compromised 
them  by  this  wild  eruption  of  passion  at  Frankfurt  and  had 
thus  put  the  most  dangerous  weapon  into  the  hands  of  the 
reactionists. 

I  remember  well  the  men  whom  my  eyes  most  eagerly 
sought.  On  "  the  right "  Radowitz,  whose  finely  chiseled  face, 
somewhat  oriental  in  its  character,  looked  like  a  sealed  book 
containing  the  secret  of  reactionary  politics;  in  "the  center" 
Heinrich  von  Gagern,  with  his  imposing  stature  and  heavy 
eyebrows;  on  "the  left"  the  Silenus-head  of  Robert   Blum, 

[  144  ] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
whom  many  regarded  as  the  ideal  man  of  the  people;  and  the 
little  shriveled  figure  of  the  old  poet,  Ludwig  Uhland,  whose 
songs  we  had  so  often  sung,  and  who  with  such  touching  fidel- 
ity stood  by  that  which  he  believed  to  be  the  good  right  of  his 
people ! 

In  the  evening  we  traveled  on  to  Eisenach,  and  soon  I 
found  myself  in  the  midst  of  a  company  that  could  not  have 
been  more  congenial. 

The  pleasant  little  town  of  Eisenach,  at  the  foot  of  the 
Wartburg,  where  Luther  translated  the  Bible  into  good  Ger- 
man and  threw  his  inkstand  at  the  head  of  the  devil,  had  re- 
peatedly been  selected  by  the  old  Burschenschaft  as  the 
theater  of  its  great  demonstrations.  The  object  of  the  present 
student-congress  consisted  mainly  in  the  national  organiza- 
tion of  German  university  men  with  an  executive  committee 
to  facilitate  united  action.  There  were  also  to  be  discussed 
various  reforms  needed  at  the  universities,  of  which  however, 
so  far  as  I  can  remember,  nobody  could  give  an  entirely 
clear  account.  We  organized  ourselves  according  to  parlia- 
mentary rules  so  that  our  oratorical  performances  might  begin 
at  once.  All  the  German  universities,  including  those  of 
Austria,  having  sent  delegations  to  this  congress,  the  meeting 
was  large  in  numbers  and  contained  many  young  men  of  un- 
common gifts.  Those  who  attracted  the  most  attention  both 
within  and  without  our  assembly  were  the  Viennese,  of  whom 
nine  or  ten  had  reported  themselves.  They  wore  the  handsome 
uniform  of  the  famous  "  academic  legion  " — black  felt  hats 
with  ostrich  plumes,  blue  coats  with  black  shining  buttons,  tri- 
colored,  black-red-gold  sashes,  bright  steel-handled  swords, 
light  gray  trousers,  and  silver-gray  cloaks  lined  with  scarlet. 
They  looked  like  a  troop  of  knights  of  old.  When  the  citizens 
of  Eisenach,  who  had  received  h^^ith  most  cordial  kindness, 

[  145  ] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
gave  a  ball  in  our  honor,  all  competition  with  the  Viennese 
for  the  favors  of  the  fair  sex  was  in  vain.  But  it  was  not 
their  outward  appearance  alone  that  distinguished  them. 
They  were  men  of  marked  ability  and  already  had  a  history 
behind  them  which  made  them  an  object  of  general  interest 
and  appealed  in  a  high  degree  to  the  imagination. 

Nowhere  had  the  university  students  played  so  important 
and  prominent  a  part  in  the  revolutionary  movement  as  in 
Vienna.  To  them  was  largely  owing  the  uprising  that  drove 
Prince  Metternich  from  power.  The  "academic  legion," 
which  they  organized  and  which,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  counted 
about  6000  men,  formed  the  nucleus  of  the  armed  power  of 
the  revolution.  In  the  "  central  committee,"  which  consisted  of 
an  equal  number  of  students  and  members  of  the  citizens' 
guard,  and  which  stood  for  the  will  of  the  people  as  against 
the  government,  they  exercised  a  preponderant  influence.  Dep- 
utations of  citizens  and  peasants  came  from  all  parts  of  Austria 
to  present  their  grievances  and  petitions  to  the  "  Aula,"  the 
headquarters  of  the  students,  which  had  suddenly  risen  as  an 
authority  omnipotent  in  the  opinion  of  the  multitude.  When 
the  imperial  ministry  was  about  to  promulgate  a  new  press- 
law,  which  indeed  abolished  the  censorship  but  still  contained 
many  restrictions,  its  chief  requested  the  students  to  express 
their  judgment  about  that  law.  And  on  May  15  the  students 
at  the  head  of  the  armed  people  forced  the  government  by 
their  determined  attitude  to  revoke  the  constitution  which  the 
government  had  framed  on  its  own  authority,  and  to  promise 
the  convocation  of  the  constituent  assembly.  The  students 
successfully  maintained  their  organization  against  various  at- 
tempts of  the  government  to  dissolve  it.  They  compelled  the 
ministry  to  agree  to  the  removal  of  the  soldiery  from  the  city 
of  Vienna  and  to  the  formation  of  a  committee  of  public 

[  146  ] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
safety,  which  was  to  consist  principally  of  the  members  of  the 
students'  organization.  So  independent  and  so  comprehensive 
a  power  was  confided  to  it  that  in  several  important  respects 
it  stood  by  the  side  of  the  ministry  as  co-ordinate.  Without  its 
consent,  for  instance,  no  military  force  should  be  employed  in 
the  city.  Thus  it  might  have  been  said  without  much  exagger- 
ation that  for  a  certain  time  the  students  of  Vienna  governed 
Austria. 

It  was,  therefore,  not  astonishing  that  the  Viennese  le- 
gionaries, who  had  already  made  so  much  history,  were  among 
us  regarded  as  the  heroes  of  the  day,  and  that  with  eager 
attention  we  listened  to  their  reports  about  the  condition  of 
things  in  their  country.  Those  reports,  however,  opened  a 
prospect  of  further  serious  troubles  if  not  of  a  tragical  end, 
and  of  this  our  Viennese  friends  were  sadly  conscious.  They 
knew  that  the  victories  of  the  Austrian  Field  Marshal  Radetzki 
in  Italy  over  Carlo  Alberto,  the  king  of  Piedmont,  would 
give  Austria's  army  new  prestige  and  the  reactionary  court- 
party  new  power;  that  this  court-party  systematically  in- 
flamed and  used  the  Czechs  against  the  Germans  in  Austria; 
that  the  presence  in  the  capital  of  the  constituent  assembly, 
the  convocation  of  which  the  students  themselves  had  asked 
for,  would  greatly  impair  the  power  of  the  revolutionary  au- 
thorities; that  in  the  civic  guards  and  in  the  committee  of 
public  safety  mischievous  dissensions  had  broken  out;  that  the 
court-party  derived  from  all  these  things  great  advantage  and 
would  avail  itself  of  the  first  favorable  opportunity  to  sweep 
away  the  fruits  of  the  revolution  in  general,  and  to  suppress 
the  students'  organization  in  particular,  and  that  the  decisive 
struggle  would  come  soon. 

These  presentiments  sometimes  fell  like  dark  shadows 
upon  our  otherwise  so  jovial  conviviality,  and  it  required  all 

[147] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
the  elasticity  of  youthful  spirits  to  console  us  with  the  hope 
that  finally  all  would  be  well. 

While  we  were  still  planning  various  excursions  from 
Eisenach  into  the  surrounding  country,  our  Viennese  friends 
informed  us  that  they  had  received  letters  from  the  "  Aula  " 
about  the  threatening  situation  of  things,  which  obliged  them 
to  return  to  Vienna  without  delay.  They  parted  from  us  with 
a  real  "  morituri  salutamus."  "  In  a  few  days,"  they  said,  "  we 
shall  have  to  fight  a  battle  in  Vienna,  and  then  you  may  look 
for  our  names  on  the  list  of  the  dead."  I  still  see  one  of  them 
before  me — he  was  a  young  man  of  rare  beauty,  by  the  name 
of  Valentin — who  spoke  those  words.  Thus  our  admired 
Viennese  legionaries  took  leave  of  us,  and  we  trembled  in 
appreciating  how  terribly  and  how  quickly  their  prediction 
might  come  true. 

The  rest  of  us  also  were  now  obliged  to  think  of  journey- 
ing home.  The  only  practical  object  of  the  student-congress 
was  accomplished.  The  general  organization  of  the  German 
university  men  had  been  resolved  upon  and  the  executive  au- 
thority designated.  Subjects  for  further  discussions  there  were 
none.  The  funds  of  many  of  us  too  were  beginning  to  run  low. 
But  with  every  hour  our  parting  appeared  harder  to  bear.  We 
had  come  to  love  one  another  so  much  and  our  companionship 
was  so  enjoyable  that  we  strained  our  inventive  genius  to  the 
utmost  to  save  at  least  a  few  days.  At  last  we  took  an  inventory 
of  the  money  that  was  still  in  our  pockets  in  order  to  form  a 
common  purse,  out  of  which,  after  the  means  necessary  for  our 
respective  homeward  journey  had  been  reserved,  the  cost  of 
further  convivial  pleasures  was  to  be  defrayed.  In  this  way  we 
really  gained  a  few  days  which  we  enjoyed  to  our  heart's 
content  and  at  once  some  festivities  were  planned,  one  of  which 
came  very  near  having  a  bad  end. 

[148] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
One  evening  we  marched  up  to  the  Wartburg.  There  a 
plenteous  spread  with  beer  awaited  us,  having  consumed  which, 
we  were  in  the  dusk  of  evening  to  march  down  the  mountain 
to  the  town  by  the  light  of  torches.  As  the  merry  students  had 
become  great  favorites  with  the  population  of  Eisenach,  a 
multitude  of  citizens,  and  among  them  a  considerable  number 
of  soldiers,  who  were  in  garrison  in  Eisenach,  accompanied  us 
to  take  part  in  our  jollification.  As  was  the  custom  of  the  time, 
political  speeches  were  made  during  the  entertainment,  and  the 
indignation  against  the  princes,  especially  the  king  of  Prussia, 
on  account  of  the  truce  of  Malmo  being  still  very  bitter,  some 
of  those  speeches  assumed  a  decidedly  republican  tone.  Pres- 
ently the  excitement  grew  hot,  and  some  of  the  soldiers  threw 
up  their  caps,  cheered  for  the  Republic,  and  declared  that  they 
would  put  themselves  under  the  order  of  the  students.  Mean- 
while evening  had  come  and  the  whole  company,  preceded  and 
surrounded  by  burning  torches,  and  singing  patriotic  songs, 
marched  down  the  forest  road  to  Eisenach.  This  spectacle  was 
charming,  but  the  effect  produced  upon  the  soldiers  by  the  rev- 
olutionary speeches  made  some  of  us  a  little  uncomfortable  as 
to  results.  So  far  as  any  of  us  knew,  there  was  no  under- 
standing with  other  parts  of  the  country  which  would  have 
insured  to  a  popular  uprising  in  Thuringia  any  outside  sup- 
port, and  to  incite  harmless  people,  especially  soldiers,  to  a 
revolutionary  attempt,  without  plan  or  purpose,  which  could 
have  for  them  only  very  mischievous  consequences,  appeared 
to  me  for  one  in  a  high  degree  objectionable.  If,  however, 
which  was  probable,  nothing  came  of  it  beyond  what  had  al- 
ready happened,  there  would  be  no  serious  harm ;  and  with  this 
comforting  hope  I  went  to  bed,  not  knowing  what  was  hap- 
pening in  the  meantime.  The  following  morning  I  heard  that 
a  large  part  of  the  multitude  that  had  participated  in  our  f  esti- 

[149] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
val  on  the  Wartburg  had  gone  on  to  a  public  resort.  There  the 
speechmaking  was  continued;  the  number  of  soldiers  among 
the  audience  had  largely  increased,  and  these  had  with  remark- 
able unanimity  and  in  a  tumultuous  way  again  cheered  the 
Republic,  and  finally  refused  obedience  to  some  officers  present 
who  had  ordered  them  to  go  away.  During  the  night  the  ex- 
citement had  spread  among  the  soldiers  until  well-nigh  the 
whole  military  garrison  of  Eisenach  was  in  a  condition  of  ac- 
tual mutiny.  The  officers  had  lost  all  control.  Troops  of  sol- 
diers now  came  to  us  with  the  request  that  we  students  should 
put  ourselves  at  their  head.  This  indeed  had  not  been  the  pur- 
pose of  the  speechmakers  of  yesterday,  who  now  had  to  use 
every  possible  effort  to  prevent  further  mischief.  From  Wei- 
mar, the  capital  of  the  duchy,  telegraphic  orders  arrived  forth- 
with to  remove  to  that  city  the  soldiers  garrisoned  in  Eisenach. 
But  the  soldiers  stubbornly  refused  to  go;  they  insisted  upon 
remaining  with  the  students.  Now  the  civic  guard  of  Eisenach 
was  summoned  to  force  the  soldiers  to  depart.  But  when  that 
civic  guard  was  in  line  on  the  market-place,  it  did  not  show  the 
least  willingness  to  undertake  the  task.  The  guardsmen,  rather, 
amused  themselves  with  cheering  the  students.  The  embarrass- 
ment grew  more  and  more  serious.  At  last  we  succeeded  in 
persuading  the  officers  of  the  troops  that  all  this  was  only 
a  merry  and  light-hearted  student  frolic,  and  that  the  soldiers 
ought  not  to  be  held  to  account  for  having,  amid  the  general 
hilarity,  and  perhaps  under  the  influence  of  excessive  potations, 
fraternized  with  the  students.  The  officers  at  last  were  induced 
to  take  the  jocular  view  of  the  matter,  and  we  engaged  our- 
selves to  bring  the  soldiers  back  to  their  duty,  if  the  authorities 
promised  that  nothing  would  happen  to  them  in  consequence 
of  this  escapade.  The  promise  came  at  once  and  now  we  suc- 
ceeded in  persuading  the  soldiers  quietly  to  rally  around  their 

[150] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
colors.  Fortunately  it  was  at  that  time  still  possible  in  the 
small  states  of  Germany  to  arrange  such  things  in  so  good- 
natured  a  manner.  In  Prussia  an  occurrence  of  this  kind  would 
have  produced  very  serious  consequences. 

After  this  performance  we  felt  that  now  it  was  indeed 
time  for  us  to  depart  from  Eisenach  and  to  go  home.  Our 
financial  resources  too  were  very  nearly  exhausted.  On  the 
evening  before  our  departure  we  had  a  last  great  carousal  in 
the  Rathskeller.  One  of  us,  if  I  remember  rightly  a  student 
from  Konigsberg,  who  had  distinguished  himself  by  wearing  a 
Polish  cap  and  by  indulging  in  extremely  revolutionary 
phraseology,  made  the  motion  that  before  parting  we  should 
issue  an  address  to  the  German  people  and  let  them  know  our 
opinion  about  the  existing  condition  of  things,  and  then  ad- 
monish them  closely  to  watch  and  with  all  possible  energy  to 
resist  the  advancing  reaction.  That  such  a  proclamation,  at 
such  a  moment,  coming  from  such  a  lot  of  young  persons,  could 
have  an  aspect  intensely  comical,  did  not  occur  to  us.  The  mo- 
tion was  discussed  with  the  greatest  seriousness  and  unani- 
mously adopted.  The  address  was  drawn  up  at  once.  Then, 
with  the  signatures  of  the  committee,  to  which  I  too  had  the 
honor  of  belonging,  it  was  printed  the  same  night,  posted  on 
the  walls  of  the  city  hall  and  of  various  other  public  buildings, 
and  sent  to  several  newspapers  for  further  publication.  This 
having  been  done,  we  sang  several  patriotic  songs  and  then  we 
parted  after  tender  embraces  and  vows  of  eternal  friendship. 
Early  the  next  morning  we  scattered  in  all  directions. 

On  the  way  home  an  extremely  sober  feeling  came  over 
me.  In  Frankfurt  I  still  found  a  "  state  of  siege  "  and  a 
gloomy  atmosphere  of  anxiety.  The  day  was  cloudy,  damp 
and  cold  when  I  went  down  the  Rhine  on  the  steamboat. 
Among  the  passengers  I  did  not  see  a  single  familiar  face. 

1 151 ] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
As  I  sat  hour  after  hour  alone  and  shivering  on  the  deck, 
disquieting  thoughts  began  to  trouble  me,  not  only  about 
the  general  course  of  things,  but  also  for  the  first  time  about 
my  own  personal  safety.  I  remembered  the  wording  of  the 
address  which  we  had  published  in  Eisenach,  and  which  con- 
tained several  sharp  attacks  upon  the  majority  of  the  national 
parliament  and  upon  the  Prussian  government.  I  remem- 
bered also  to  have  read  in  the  papers  that  the  parliament 
in  consequence  of  the  September  revolt  had  passed  a  law 
which  imposed  a  heavy  penalty  upon  utterances  insulting  to 
its  members.  Had  we  not  actually  committed  that  crime  in 
our  published  address?  Undoubtedly;  and  thus  I  began  to 
picture  to  myself  how  after  my  arrival  in  Bonn  I  would  soon 
be  arrested,  and  on  account  of  the  press-offense  against  the 
national  parliament  and  the  Prussian  government  put  on 
trial.  Of  course  I  resolved  to  suffer  courageously  for  my  con- 
victions. What  troubled  me  more  was  the  thought  that  our 
address  probably  would  have  no  other  effect  than  this.  But 
my  apprehension  that  I  would  be  arrested  and  punished 
proved  to  be  entirely  superfluous.  If  our  proclamation  had 
really  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  government,  the  authori- 
ties probably  did  not  think  it  worth  while  to  take  any  notice  of 
it;  and  I  drew  from  this  the  lesson — a  not  at  all  flattering  one 
— that  we  young  people  might  possibly  appear  to  others  much 
less  important  than  to  ourselves.  Before  long,  however,  con- 
flicts really  serious  arrived. 

Momentous  news  from  Vienna  confirmed  the  predictions 
of  our  Viennese  friends  in  Eisenach.  Hungary  had  in  the  days 
of  March  asserted  a  high  degree  of  political  autonomy  under  a 
"  personal  union  "  with  Austria.  It  had  its  own  ministry  re- 
siding in  Pesth,  without  whose  counter-signature  no  order  of 
the  Austrian  emperor  concerning  Hungary  should  be  valid. 

[15*] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
Without  the  assent  of  the  Hungarian  legislature  no  Hunga- 
rian troops  should  be  employed  outside  of  the  boundaries  of 
Hungary,  nor  should  non-Hungarian  troops  enter  within  those 
boundaries.  The  "  Archduke  Palatin,"  an  Austrian  prince, 
should  as  Viceroy  of  Hungary,  have  his  residence  in  Pesth.  In 
addition  to  this,  the  German  and  Slavic  districts,  which  so  far 
had  been  considered  as  belonging  to  Hungary,  should  remain  as 
integral  parts  of  the  country  subject  to  the  Hungarian  gov- 
ernment. The  to  a  large  extent  independent  Hungarian 
government  was  an  object  of  detestation  to  the  Austrian 
court-party.  That  party  resorted  to  various  intrigues,  which 
resulted  in  a  direct  breach  between  the  Austrian  and  Hun- 
garian governments,  in  the  killing  of  an  imperial  emissary  by  an 
excited  multitude  in  Pesth,  and  in  the  creation  by  the  Hun- 
garians of  a  national  government-commission  in  Hungary, 
followed  by  a  proclamation  from  the  Austrian  emperor  which 
virtually  amounted  to  a  declaration  of  war.  The  Hungarians 
prepared  for  the  struggle,  and  when  in  October  Austrian  troops 
were  dispatched  from  Vienna  for  the  subjugation  of  Hungary, 
the  people  of  Vienna,  the  students  at  their  head,  rose  in  revolt 
against  their  own  government,  with  the  feeling  that  the  at- 
tempt to  destroy  the  constitutional  rights  of  the  Hungarians 
was  at  the  same  time  directed  against  the  rights  of  the  German 
Austrians,  and  against  all  the  fruits  of  the  revolution.  The 
minister  of  war,  Count  Latour,  was  hanged  to  a  lamp-post  by 
an  infuriated  crowd.  After  a  bloody  fight  the  insurrectionists 
controlled  the  city.  The  commander  of  the  garrison,  Count 
Auersperg,  found  himself  obliged  to  evacuate  the  town,  but 
he  entrenched  himself  in  a  strong  position  outside,  and  was 
soon  reinforced  by  large  bodies  of  troops  under  Prince 
Windischgratz.  Windischgratz  took  command  of  the  army, 
attacked  the  city  of  Vienna  on  October  23,    and   after   long 

[153] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
and  bloody  struggles  he  put  down  the  last  resistance  on  the 
31st.  Vienna  was  then  subjected  to  the  unlimited  arbitrariness 
of  military  rule,  and  the  revolutionary  movement  in  German 
Austria  had  an  end.  Several  of  the  chivalrous  legionaries, 
with  whom  we  students  had  enjoyed  such  sunny  days  in 
Eisenach,  had  fallen  in  the  battle,  and  the  rest  were  fugitives. 
With  this  catastrophe  coincided  a  marked  turn  of  affairs 
in  Prussia.  Since  March  the  Prussian  government  had  moved 
in  constitutional  forms,  and  the  ministry,  at  the  head  of  which 
stood  the  liberal  General  von  Pfuel,  showed  itself  willing  to 
fulfill  the  promises  that  had  been  given.  But  the  king  and  his 
immediate  surroundings  had  on  various  occasions  manifested 
a  disposition  which  hardly  harmonized  with  those  pledges  and 
called  forth  grave  apprehensions.  On  October  31  the  Prus- 
sian Constituent  Assembly  gave  voice  to  the  general  sympathy 
with  the  struggling  people  of  Vienna  and  resolved  to  request 
his  Majesty's  government  "  to  take  speedy  and  energetic  steps 
to  induce  the  German  central  power  in  Frankfurt  to  effect- 
ually protect  the  imperiled  liberties  of  the  people  in  the  Ger- 
man districts  of  Austria,  and  to  restore  peace.' '  The  president 
of  the  ministry,  General  von  Pfuel,  supported  this  resolution. 
The  next  day  he  found  himself  compelled  to  resign,  and  the 
king  then  appointed  a  ministry  of  decidedly  reactionary  char- 
acter, at  the  head  of  which  he  put  Count  Brandenburg,  and 
the  leading  spirit  of  which  was  Herr  von  Manteuffel.  The 
Constituent  Assembly  solemnly  protested,  but  in  vain.  On 
November  9  the  Brandenburg  ministry  presented  itself  to  the 
Assembly  with  a  royal  message  which  transferred  the  meetings 
of  that  body  to  another  place  and  prorogued  its  sessions  until 
November  27.  By  a  large  majority  the  Assembly  denied  the 
right  of  the  royal  government  to  do  these  things,  but  the  next 
day  the  house  was  surrounded  by  large  bodies  of  troops  under 

[154] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
General  Wrangel,  who  gave  the  order  that  nobody  should  be 
permitted  to  enter,  but  anybody  might  leave  the  building.  On 
November  11  the  civil  guard  of  Berlin  was  dissolved  and 
in  a  few  days  disarmed.  The  Assembly  moved  from  one 
place  to  another,  constantly  followed  by  the  soldiery,  until 
finally  on  November  15,  at  its  last  meeting,  it  refused  to 
vote  the  supplies,  and  declared  "  that  this  ministry  had  no 
right  to  dispose  of  the  moneys  of  the  state  or  to  levy  taxes,  so 
long  as  the  Constituent  Assembly  could  not  undisturbed  con- 
tinue its  deliberations  in  Berlin."  These  events  called  forth 
immense  excitement  all  over  the  country.  They  seemed  to 
prove  that  the  reactionary  court-parties  were  determined  to 
sweep  away  by  force  all  the  fruits  of  the  revolution. 

That  the  Constituent  Assembly  in  opposing  the  "  coup 
d'etat "  was  altogether  within  its  right,  admitted  of  no  doubt 
in  the  minds  of  the  democrats.  They  blamed  it  only  for  not 
having  made  the  fullest  use  of  its  right  by  calling  the  people 
directly  to  arms,  and  for  having  at  this  moment  of  great  deci- 
sion limited  itself  to  the  weak-kneed  policy  of  "  passive  resist- 
ance." But  they  thought  that  this  passive  resistance  by  means 
of  a  general  refusal  to  pay  taxes  might  finally  force  the  gov- 
ernment to  yield,  assuming  that  the  refusal  to  pay  taxes 
would  become  general  and  be  maintained  with  inflexible 
steadiness. 

The  democrats  in  Bonn,  among  whom  we  students  played 
a  prominent  part,  were  zealous  in  demonstrating  their  deter- 
mination to  support  the  Constituent  Assembly.  The  declaration 
that  we  would  refuse  the  payment  of  taxes  coming  from  the 
students  looked  somewhat  like  a  huge  joke,  because  we  had  none 
to  pay.  The  problem  we  had  to  solve,  therefore,  consisted  in 
persuading  other  people  to  refuse  to  pay  their  taxes.  We  be- 
lieved we  could  strike  a  demonstrative  blow  by  stopping  the 

[155] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
levying  of  octroi  duties  which  were  levied  at  the  gates  of  the  city 
on  the  food-stuffs  brought  to  the  town.  We  did  this  in  driv- 
ing the  revenue  officers  from  their  posts,  which  pleased  the 
peasants,  who  were  at  once  ready  to  bring  their  products  free 
of  duty  into  the  city.  This  led  to  conflicts  with  the  police  in 
which,  however,  we  easily  had  the  upper  hand. 

Now  it  appeared  to  us  «mecessary  to  seize  upon  the  general 
machinery  of  the  tax-department.  The  next  day  a  committee, 
of  which  I  was  a  member,  appeared  at  the  city  hall  to  take 
possession  of  it.  The  Burgomaster  received  us  with  great  po- 
liteness and  listened  quietly  to  what  we  had  to  say  to  him  about 
the  authority  of  the  Constituent  Assembly  and  its  power  to  stop 
the  payment  of  taxes;  but  he  tried  to  amuse  us  with  all  sorts 
of  evasive  talk.  At  last  we  became  impatient  and  demanded 
an  immediate  and  definite  answer  according  to  which  we  would 
resolve  upon  further  measures.  Suddenly  we  noticed  a  change 
in  the  expression  of  the  Burgomaster's  face.  He  seemed  to 
hearken  to  something  going  on  outside  and  then,  still  politely 
but  with  a  sort  of  triumphant  smile  on  his  lips,  he  said: 
"  Gentlemen,  your  answer  you  will  have  to  receive  from  some- 
body else.  Do  you  hear  that? "  Now  we  hearkened  too,  and 
heard  a  still  distant,  but  approaching,  sound  of  a  military  band 
playing  the  Prussian  national  air.  The  music  sounded  nearer 
and  nearer  in  the  street  leading  up  from  the  Rhine.  In  a  few 
minutes  it  reached  the  market-place  and  behind  it  came  the 
heavy  tramp  of  an  infantry  column  which  presently  filled  a 
large  part  of  the  square  in  front  of  the  city  hall.  Our  conver- 
sation with  the  Burgomaster  of  course  came  to  a  sudden  end 
and  we  thought  it  very  decent  on  his  part  that  he  permitted  us 
to  leave  the  building  undisturbed. 

The  appearance  of  the  military  was  easily  explained.  As 
soon  as  we  began  to  refuse  the  payment  of  taxes,  the  authorities 

[156] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
in  Bonn,  which  at  that  time  had  no  garrison,  had  telegraphed 
to  the  nearest  fortress  for  aid,  and  the  call  was  promptly  re- 
sponded to.  This  of  course  put  a  stop  to  our  doings  in  the 
matter  of  stopping  the  payment  of  taxes.  The  soldiers  at  once 
occupied  the  gates  of  the  city  and  the  octroi  duties  were  levied 
as  before.  In  the  evening  we  had  a  meeting  of  our  democratic 
committee  to  consider  what  was  next  to  be  done.  The  first 
impulse  was  to  attack  the  soldiers  and  if  possible  to  drive  them 
out  of  the  town.  This  would  have  been  a  desperate  enterprise, 
but  it  was  taken  seriously  in  view.  After  mature  consideration, 
however,  we  all  recognized  that  a  fight  in  Bonn,  even  a  success- 
ful one,  could  have  real  importance  only  as  a  part  of  a  more 
general  uprising.  Cologne  was  naturally  regarded  as  the 
capital  of  the  Rhineland  and  as  the  central  focus  for  all 
political  movements.  It  was  there  we  had  to  seek  our  support, 
and  from  there  to  get  our  orders.  We  had  already  received 
from  Cologne  a  report  that  feverish  excitement  prevailed  in 
that  city,  and  that  the  signal  for  a  general  uprising  was  to  be 
expected  from  the  democratic  leaders.  For  this  we  were  to  pre- 
pare quietly  and  quickly,  but  we  were  to  avoid  everything  like 
an  isolated  attempt.  We  sent  a  messenger  to  Cologne  to  in- 
form our  friends  of  what  had  occurred  in  Bonn  and  to  get 
further  instructions.  In  the  meantime  we  made  arrangements 
to  collect  as  many  as  possible  of  the  muskets  of  our  civic-guard 
and  to  make  cartridges,  which  was  done  with  great  zeal. 

But  now  disquieting  news  came  about  what  happened  in 
the  vicinity  of  the  gates  of  the  city.  Large  crowds  of  peasants 
from  the  neighboring  villages  had  assembled  outside.  They 
had  received  information  about  the  coming  of  the  soldiers  to 
Bonn  and  thought  that  the  democrats  and  the  students  must 
be  in  great  danger.  They  had  now  come  to  help  us.  Many  of 
them  probably  imagined  the  expulsion  of  the  troops  from  the 

[157] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
city  to  be  as  easy  as  had  been  the  driving  away  of  the  tax 
officers  from  the  gates.  Some  of  them  were  spoiling  for  a  fight. 
We  had  indeed  reason  for  apprehending  that  they  would  press 
into  the  city  and  involve  us  in  a  street-battle  with  the  soldiers 
under  very  unfavorable  circumstances.  It  was  not  an  easy 
task  to  persuade  those  impatient  people  to  go  home  and  to  keep 
themselves  ready  to  aid  us  as  soon  as  the  signal  for  action  should 
come  from  Cologne.  The  whole  night  our  committee  waited 
for  the  return  of  the  messenger  we  had  sent  there.  About  day- 
break we  separated,  but  only  to  meet  again  after  a  short  rest. 
The  preparations  for  war  continued  in  the  meantime.  Not  one 
of  us  slept  in  his  own  quarters,  so  as  not  to  be  easily  found  in 
case  the  authorities  should  try  to  arrest  us.  I  took  refuge  in  a 
friend's  room  that  was  filled  with  muskets  and  cases  of  cart- 
ridges which  were  stored  there  ready  for  distribution. 

Our  messenger  did  not  return  from  Cologne  before  even- 
ing of  the  next  day.  He  reported  that  our  friends  did  not 
feel  themselves  able  to  attempt  a  blow  with  any  prospect  of 
success  against  the  large  masses  of  troops  gathered  there;  that 
they  would  confine  themselves  to  the  continuation  of  the  "  pas- 
sive resistance,"  and  that  they  urgently  recommended  to  us  to 
abstain  from  all  violent  steps  until  further  orders.  Nothing 
remained  to  us  therefore  but  to  swallow  our  wrath  and  to  keep 
our  friends  in  the  open  country  quiet.  What  happened  with 
us,  happened  all  over  the  kingdom  of  Prussia.  The  Constituent 
Assembly  had  yielded  to  the  government  a  bloodless  victory  and 
the  resolution  to  refuse  the  payment  of  taxes  soon  became  a 
dead  letter. 

But  it  looked  as  if  the  whole  affair  would  come  home  to 
the  democratic  leaders  among  the  students  in  a  disagreeable 
way.  There  was  a  rumor  that  against  three  or  four  of  us, 
against  me  among  others,  warrants  had  been  issued,  and  that 

[158] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
we  had  to  expect  our  arrest  any  moment.  Whether  it  was  really 
so,  I  did  not  know,  but  it  was  so  believed;  and  our  friends  went 
at  once  to  work  to  protect  us  from  harm.  They  spread  the  im- 
pression among  the  citizens  of  Bonn  that  if  we  were  touched 
by  the  police,  all  the  students  would  quit  the  city.  Now,  as  the 
prosperity  of  Bonn  depended  in  a  great  measure  upon  the 
presence  of  the  students,  this  caused  no  little  alarm  among  the 
good  burghers.  Many  of  them  urgently  asked  the  Burgo- 
master to  use  his  whole  influence  to  obtain  from  the  higher 
authorities  the  promise  that  nothing  should  happen  to  us,  and 
thus  to  avert  the  threatening  calamity.  In  fact  we  were  in- 
formed by  our  friends  in  the  course  of  a  few  days  that  such  a 
promise  had  indeed  been  given,  and  that  for  once  we  should 
escape  unharmed.  We  therefore  left  our  hiding  places,  and  I 
continued  to  write  for  our  newspaper,  to  address  meetings  and 
to  attend  lectures,  so  far  as  I  could  find  time  to  do  so. 

Frederick  William  IV.,  after  having  won  his  victory  over 
the  Constituent  Assembly,  felt  himself  strong  enough  to  give 
to  Prussia  a  constitution  of  his  own  exclusive  making,  without 
submitting  it  for  assent  to  the  representatives  of  the  people. 
This  constitution  of  his  provided  for  a  Diet  consisting  of  two 
Chambers.  The  Chambers  were  convoked  at  once  and  Kinkel 
stepped  forward  in  Bonn  as  a  candidate  for  the  lower  House. 
He  was  elected  by  a  large  majority,  and  had  to  take  his  seat 
soon  after.  Frau  Kinkel  accompanied  him  to  Berlin.  Although 
they  sent  me  regular  contributions  for  the  columns  of  the 
Bonner  Zeitung,  the  daily  duties  of  the  editorship  fell  upon 
my  shoulders  during  their  absence  as  a  very  heavy  burden  of 
unaccustomed  work. 

The  Bonner  Zeitung  having  only  a  very  small  editorial 
staff,  I  had  not  only  to  furnish  political  articles,  but  also  many 
other  things  which  a  daily  paper  must  offer  to  its  readers — 

[159] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
among  others  the  reports  about  the  stage.  A  theater  had  been 
established  in  Bonn  which  gave  respectable  performances,  and 
even  light  opera.  To  the  Bonner  Zeitung  the  director  of  the 
theater  assigned  a  box  for  its  reporters,  the  principal  reporter 
having  so  far  been  Mme.  Kinkel.  This  box  was  now  at  my 
disposal,  and  I  occupied  it,  not  only  when  journalistic  duties 
called  me  to  witness  the  performance  of  a  new  play,  but  some- 
times also  when  I  felt  the  want  of  a  little  relaxation  from  my 
many  labors  and  cares.  Here  I  must  confess  that  to  these 
labors  and  cares  an  affair  of  the  heart  had  been  added. 

Until  this  time  no  woman  outside  of  my  family-circle  had 
played  any  part  in  my  life,  perhaps  largely  because  of  my 
excessive  bashfulness.  At  length  inevitable  fate  laid  its  hand 
upon  me  too.  I  really  fell  in  love,  head  over  heels,  at  first 
sight,  with  a  beautiful  young  lady.  She  was  the  daughter  of 
a  little  merchant.  Her  name  was  Betty.  I  had  never  been 
introduced  to  her  and  we  had  never  exchanged  a  word.  I 
had  only  seen  her  sitting  at  her  window,  occupied  with 
embroidery;  still  oftener  with  a  book  in  her  hand,  I  had  fre- 
quently passed  by  this  window,  and  almost  always  she  sat 
there.  Sometimes  our  eyes  met,  and  I  then  was  conscious 
of  blushing  all  over.  From  a  friend  of  hers  I  heard  that  she 
was  reading  Shakespeare  in  the  English  original,  which 
gave  me  a  high  idea  of  her  mental  gifts  and  acquirements. 
The  sly  manner  in  which  I  sometimes  turned  the  conversation 
with  that  friend  in  the  direction  of  Betty,  was,  of  course,  self- 
betraying;  and  from  what  he  told  me  in  return,  I  was  happy 
to  suspect  that  Betty  too  was  aware  of  my  existence.  I  ardently 
longed  to  know  her  and  soon  found  a  to  me  surprisingly  fav- 
orable opportunity. 

One  evening  while  sitting  in  the  theater-box, — Flotow's 
opera  "  Martha  "  was  on  the  stage, — two  ladies  took  seats  in  the 

[160] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
one  adjoining  mine.  A  few  minutes  later  I  turned  and  could 
hardly  believe  my  eyes  when,  with  a  violent  heart  jump,  I  sud- 
denly became  aware  that  only  the  low  partition  between  the 
boxes  separated  me  from  Betty.  Soon  the  ladies  began  to  look 
around  for  something  and  I  heard  them  say  that  they  had  left 
their  opera-glasses  at  home.  Here  was  an  evident  opportunity 
for  me.  I  held  my  own  opera-glass  in  my  hand.  What  more 
natural  than  to  offer  it  to  Betty  with  a  polite  word?  Indeed, 
was  it  not  positively  impolite  not  to  do  so?  But — but — the 
necessary  words  would  not  come.  I  sat  completely  paralyzed 
and  tongue-tied  throughout  the  whole  play.  Finally  the  ladies 
left  the  box  and  with  them  my  long  hoped-for  opportunity.  I 
rushed  from  the  theater,  tormenting  myself  with  self-re- 
proach, and  instead  of  going,  as  I  had  intended,  to  the  Fran- 
conia,  I  took  a  long,  lonely  walk  in  the  night.  But  soon  this 
love-dream  became  more  shadowy  than  ever,  for  events  oc- 
curred which  tore  me  altogether  out  of  my  surroundings. 

Of  the  larger  parliamentary  bodies  that  had  issued  from 
the  revolution  of  March,  only  the  national  parliament  in  Frank- 
furt was  still  in  existence.  That  existence  it  had  owed  to 
the  longing  of  the  German  people,  or  rather  the  German  peo- 
ples, for  national  unity,  and  it  was  its  natural  and  universally 
understood  mission  to  weld  the  German  peoples  under  a  com- 
mon constitution  of  national  government  into  one  great  nation. 
Immediately  after  the  revolution  of  March,  1848,  the  differ- 
ent German  governments,  and  with  them  also  Austria,  because 
of  her  German  possessions,  had  recognized  this  object  as  a  legit- 
imate one,  and  it  was  with  their  co-operation  that  in  May  the 
elections  for  the  national  parliament  had  taken  place.  The 
large  majority  of  that  body,  in  fact,  the  German  people  in 
general,  regarded  the  Frankfurt  parliament  as  the  specific 
representative  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  German  nation.  It 

[161] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
was  to  be  expected  that  the  princes  and  those  of  their  adher- 
ents, who  may  be  designated  as  court-parties,  would  submit  to 
this  conception  of  the  powers  of  the  parliament,  only  so  long, 
and  only  so  far,  as  they  found  themselves  forced  to  do  so.  But 
few  of  the  princes,  if  any,  were  sufficiently  liberal  to  accept  a 
limitation  of  their  princely  prerogatives  with  equanimity. 
Every  gain  of  the  people  in  the  matter  of  political  power  they 
felt  to  be  their  own  loss.  Of  course  they  were  also  opposed  to 
the  institution  of  a  strong  national  government  for  the  reason 
that  this  would  be  conditioned  upon  the  surrender  to  the 
national  authority  of  many  of  the  sovereignty-rights  of  the 
different  states.  It  was  not  only  a  national  republic  that  the 
individual  German  sovereigns  feared,  but  they  also  dreaded  a 
national  Kaiser  whox  would  be  apt  to  reduce  them  to  the  con- 
dition of  mere  vassals.  The  German  princes,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  one  who  could  hope  himself  to  occupy  the  imperial 
throne,  were  therefore  the  natural  adversaries  of  German 
unity,  embodied  in  a  strong  national  government.  There  may 
have  been  some  men  of  national  sentiment  among  them 
capable  of  overcoming  this  reluctance,  but  certainly  there  were 
very  few.  Austria  desired  a.  united  Qermany  }n  some  form, 
only  if  it  could  hope  to  occupy  in  it  the  position  of  the  lead- 
ing power. 

Face  to  face  with  the  princes  and  their  parties  stood  the 
national  parliament  in  Frankfurt,  that  child  of  the  revolution, 
which  might  then  have  almost  been  called  the  orphan  of 
the  revolution.  It  had  at  its  immediate  disposal  no  administra- 
tive machinery,  no  army,  no  treasury,  only  its  moral  authority ; 
.  all  the  other  things  were  in  the  hands  of  the  different  German 
state  governments.  The  only  power  of  the  national  parliament 
consisted  in  the  will  of  the  people.  And  this  power  was  suffi- 
cient for  the  fulfillment  of  its  mission  so  long  as  the  will  of  the 

[162] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
people  proved  itself  strong  enough,  even  through  revolutionary 
action  in  case  of  necessity,  to  counteract  the  adverse  interests 
of  the  princes.  The  parliament  would  have  been  sure  of  success 
in  creating  a  constitutional  German  empire,  if  it  had  performed 
that  task  quickly  and  elected  and  put  into  office  its  Kaiser  while 
the  revolutionary  prestige  of  the  people  was  still  unbroken — 
that  is  to  say,  in  the  first  two  or  three  months  after  the  revolu- 
tion of  March.  No  German  prince  would  then  have  declined 
the  imperial  crown  with  a  constitution  ever  so  democratic,  and 
not  one  of  them  would  have  dared  to  refuse  the  sacrifice  of  any 
of  his  sovereignty-rights  to  the  national  power. 

But  that  parliament  was  laboring  under  an  over- 
abundance of  learning  and  virtue  and  under  a  want  of  that 
political  experience  and  sagacity  which  recognizes  that  the 
better  is  often  the  enemy  of  the  good,  and  that  the  true  states- 
man will  be  careful  not  to  imperil  that  which  is  essential  by 
excessive  insistence  upon  things  which  are  of  comparatively 
little  consequence.  The  world  has  probably  never  seen  a  polit- 
ical assembly  that  contained  a  larger  number  of  noble,  learned, 
conscientious  and  patriotic  men,  and  it  will  be  difficult  to  find 
a  book  of  the  same  character  richer  in  profound  knowledge  and 
in  models  of  lofty  eloquence  than  its  stenographic  reports.  But 
it  did  not  possess  the  genius  that  promptly  discerns  opportunity 
and  with  quick  resolution  takes  fortune  by  the  forelock ;  it  was 
not  mindful  of  the  fact  that  in  times  of  great  commotion  the 
history  of  the  world  does  not  wait  for  the  theoretical  thinker. 
And  thus  it  failed. 

The  parliament  indeed  recognized  soon  after  its  opening, 
that,  if  it  was  not  to  remain  a  mere  constituent  assembly,  but 
also,  until  the  constitution  should  be  completed,  a  temporary 
government,  an  executive  organ  was  required;  and  thus  it 
resolved  upon  the  institution  of  a  "  provisional  central  power," 

[163] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
with  a  sort  of  lieutenant-emperor  at  its  head.  To  this  office  it 
elected  the  Archduke  Johann  of  Austria,  who  enjoyed  the 
reputation  of  being  a  liberal.  He  was  authorized  by  the  par- 
liament to  appoint  an  imperial  ministry.  But,  as  mentioned 
before,  his  minister  of  foreign  affairs  had  no  diplomatic  ma- 
chinery under  him;  his  minister  of  war  had  no  soldiers  except 
such  as  were  lent  to  him  by  some  of  the  several  state  govern- 
ments; and  his  minister  of  finance  no  fiscal  machinery,  no  tax- 
levies,  and  no  money  except  what  the  several  state  govern- 
ments contributed.  All  the  things  which  together  constitute 
the  substantial  force  of  a  government  remained  after  all  in 
the  control  of  the  several  German  states.  The  real  source  of 
its  power  was  therefore  after  all  nothing  but  the  revolutionary 
strength  of  the  people.  At  the  end  of  the  year  1848  this  rev- 
olutionary strength  did  not  confront  the  princes  and  the  court- 
parties  any  longer  in  so  imposing  a  shape  as  it  had  done  in  the 
spring.  A  large  portion  of  the  people  who  had  been  so  enthu- 
siastic in  March  had  become  more  or  less  tired  of  the  constant 
excitements,  while  the  princes  and  their  adherents  had  to  a 
large  extent  recovered  from  the  terrors  of  March,  had  assured 
themselves  of  the  administrative  machinery  and  of  the  fidelity 
of  their  armies,  and  had  been  keeping  their  aims  steadily  in 
view — in  point  of  fact  had,  at  the  great  political  centers,  Vienna 
and  Berlin,  inflicted  very  grievous  defeats  upon  the  revolution- 
ary spirit.  The  possibility  of  new  revolutionary  action  on  a 
large  scale  had  therefore  grown  very  much  less.  Under  these 
circumstances  the  national  parliament  could  indeed  issue  its 
ordinances  and  have  them  proclaimed  through  the  national 
executive,  but  the  governments  of  the  several  German  states 
felt  that  they  need  not  pay  much  more  attention  to  them  than 
than  they  pleased.  And  yet,  the  parliament  had  still  its 
principal  task  before  it:  to  complete  the  constitution  of  the 

[  164  ] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
German  empire,  to  introduce  it  practically,  and  thereby  to 
satisfy  the  great  national  want  of  the  German  people. 

It  was  still  engaged  in  learned  and  arduous  debates  about 
the  fundamental  right,  and  liberties  the  German  citizens  should 
possess ;  it  still  had  to  solve  doubts  as  to  whether  Germany  should 
have  a  Reichstag  to  be  elected  by  all  the  people  and  whether 
the  head  of  the  national  government  should  be  a  hereditary  or 
only  an  elective  Kaiser,  or  a  President,  or  instead  of  a  single 
head,  an  executive  committee.  It  had  still  to  determine  of 
what  countries  and  parts  of  countries  the  German  empire 
should  consist;  whether  the  German-Austrian  districts  should 
form  a  part  of  it,  and  which  of  the  two  German  great  powers, 
Austria  or  Prussia,  should  in  this  event  have  the  hegemony. 
The  parliamentary  struggle  on  these  questions  lasted  long, 
and  only,  when  the  reactionary  Austrian  minister,  Prince 
Felix  Schwarzenberg,  demanded  that  the  whole  of  Austria, 
organized  as  a  united  state  with  its  nearly  thirty  millions  of 
non- German  inhabitants,  should  form  part  of  the  German 
empire — a  demand  with  which  the  creation  of  a  really  Ger- 
man national  union  seemed  entirely  incompatible — only  then 
did  the  parliament  come  to  a  decision.  The  majority  declared 
itself  for  a  hereditary  Kaiser,  and  on  March  28,  1849,  elected 
to  that  office  the  King  of  Prussia. 

However  unpopular  Prussia  and  the  Prussian  king  were 
outside  the  boundaries  of  that  kingdom,  especially  in  South 
Germany,  and  however  little  the  democratic  party  desired 
the  creation  of  an  executive  head  to  the  German  empire 
in  the  shape  of  a  hereditary  Kaiser,  yet  when  the  work  of 
German  unity  appeared  at  last  completed,  the  national  en- 
thusiasm was  once  more  kindled  into  a  joyous  flame.  A  commit- 
tee consisting  of  thirty-three  members  of  the  national  par- 
liament,   headed   by   its   president,    betook   itself   to    Berlin, 

[165] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
receiving  on  the  way  the  most  spirited  manifestations  of  popu- 
lar joy,  to  offer  to  the  King  of  Prussia   the    constitutional 
headship  of  the  empire. 

And  now  came  the  bitterest  disappointment  of  all.  It 
was  indeed  well  known  that  Frederick  William  IV.,  full  of  his 
absolutist  mysticism,  had  never  at  heart  recognized  the  sove- 
reign character  of  the  national  parliament  as  a  constituent 
assembly,  and  that  he  had  claimed  for  the  king  of  Prussia 
as  well  as  for  the  other  German  princes  the  right  to  revise  the 
constitution  itself.  It  was  also  generally  understood  that  that 
constitution,  as  it  came  from  the  hands  of  the  national  par- 
liament, was  too  democratic  to  suit  his  taste.  But  when  all  the 
German  governments,  with  the  exception  of  those  of  Bavaria, 
Saxony  and  Hanover  (Austria  was  no  longer  to  be  consid- 
ered), had  yielded  to  the  pressure  of  popular  sentiment  and 
declared  themselves  ready  to  accept  the  imperial  constitution 
and  the  Kaiser,  and  it  was  certain  that  even  the  three  opposing 
kings  would  offer  no  serious  resistance,  the  people,  still  hopeful 
and  confiding,  believed  that  Frederick  William  IV.  could  not 
refuse  the  great  offer.  Had  he  not  in  March  on  the  streets 
of  Berlin  solemnly  declared  that  he  would  put  himself  at  the^ 
head  of  the  national  movement,  and  that  Prussia  would  be 
merged  in  a  united  Germany?  How  could  he  possibly  reject 
and  desire  to  destroy  the  work  of  national  union  at  the  very 
moment  when  it  required  for  its  completion  only  his  assent  and 
acceptance?  But  what  happened?  Frederick  William  IV. 
refused  the  crown.  He  had  indulged  himself  in  all  sorts  of 
fantastic  dreams  about  the  manner  in  which  Germany  might 
be  united,  but  found  that  the  constitution  now  presented  to 
him  in  all  essential  points  diverged  seriously  from  his  own  con- 
ceits. The  national  parliament  he  thought  had  no  right 
to  offer  to  him  or  anybody  else  a  crown;  such  an  offer  could, 

[166] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
in  his  opinion,  legitimately  be  made  only  by  a  free  resolution 
of  the  German  princes.  Neither  would  the  acceptance  of  the 
German  imperial  crown  be  compatible  with  his  feelings  of 
friendly  obligations  to  Austria.  These  and  similar  reasons 
for  the  non-acceptance  of  the  imperial  constitution  and  the 
Kaisership  were  uttered  by  the  king,  partly  in  public,  partly 
in  private. 

It  is  quite  possible  that  the  most  serious  reason  which 
frightened  him  lay  in  the  probability  that  if  he  accepted  the 
imperial  crown,  he  might  have  to  defend  it  by  force  of  arms 
against  Austria  and  Russia;  and  this  apprehension  appeared 
in  an  almost  naive  way  in  an  answer  which  the  king  gave  to 
the  eloquent  words  of  a  member  of  the  Frankfurt  parlia- 
ment, Herr  von  Beckerath,  urging  him  to  accept:  "If  you 
could  have  addressed  your  appeal  to  Frederick  the  Great,  he 
would  have  been  your  man;  but  I  am  not  a  great  ruler."  In- 
deed, Frederick  William  IV.  from  the  first  day  of  his  govern- 
ment to  the  pitiable  end  thereof  sufficiently  proved  that  he 
was  not  made  to  be  the  first  Kaiser  of  the  new  German  empire. 
His  refusal  to  accept  the  imperial  crown  and  the  constitution 
of  the  empire  turned  the  general  enthusiasm  of  the  people 
throughout  the  country  into  general  dismay  and  indigna- 
tion. On  April  11  the  national  parliament  declared  that 
it  would  stand  by  the  constitution  it  had  made.  By  the  14th 
the  legislative  bodies  of  the  governments  of  twenty-three  Ger- 
man states  had  signified  their  acceptance  of  that  constitution 
and  of  the  election  of  the  king  of  Prussia  as  Kaiser.  But 
Frederick  William  IV.  persisted  in  his  declination,  and  the 
kings  of  Bavaria,  Hanover  and  Saxony  also  continued  to 
signify  their  unwillingness  to  assent. 

On  May  4  the  national  parliament  appealed  to  the  "  gov- 
ernments, the  legislative  bodies,  the  communities  in  the  several 

-    [167] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
states  and  to  the  whole  German  people  to  stand  up  for  the 
recognition  and  the  introduction  of  the  national  constitution." 
This  appeal  sounded  very  much  like  a  summons  to  arms, 
and  in  various  parts  of  Germany  it  had  already  been  antici- 
pated. In  the  Bavarian  Palatinate,  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
Rhine,  a  detached  province  of  the  kingdom  of  Bavaria,  the 
people  had  already  on  April  30  risen  up  with  rare  unanimity, 
and  declared  in  immense  mass-meetings  that  whatever  the  Ba- 
varian government  might  do,  they  would  stand  and  fall  with 
the  national  constitution.  They  went  even  farther.  They  insti- 
tuted a  provisional  government  to  replace  the  authorities  acting 
under  the  king  of  Bavaria.  The  revolt  rapidly  spread  to  the 
neighboring  grand  duchy  of  Baden,  where  the  whole  army 
of  that  state,  with  the  exception  of  a  small  body  of  cavalry, 
joined  the  revolt  and  surrendered  to  it  the  important  fortress 
of  Rastatt.  The  Grand  Duke  of  Baden  took  to  flight,  and  a 
provisional  government  composed  of  popular  leaders  as- 
sumed the  place  of  his  ministry.  In  the  kingdom  of  Saxony 
the  people  of  Dresden,  the  capital  city,  attempted  to  force  the 
king  to  recognize  the  national  constitution.  There  too  the  king 
found  himself  obliged  to  flee  after  a  short  struggle  between 
the  people  and  the  military,  and  a  provisional  government  was 
organized.  The  king  of  Saxony  applied  to  the  Prussian  gov- 
ernment for  aid.  This  was  willingly  granted,  and  after  a  bloody 
fight  in  the  streets  of  Dresden  the  revolt  was  suppressed  and 
the  authority  of  the  Saxon  king  restored  by  Prussian  bayonets. 
What  were  the  adherents  of  the  national  cause  in  Prussia 
to  do  while  their  king  sent  Prussian  soldiers  to  overcome  the 
national  movement  outside?  Uprisings  were  attempted  in 
Berlin  and  Breslau,  but  speedily  overcome  by  force  of  arms. 
In  the  Rhenish  provinces  the  excitement  was  tremendous.  In 
Cologne  a  meeting   was    held   of   the   representatives  of  the 

[168] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
country  communes,  which  almost  unanimously  demanded  the 
recognition  of  the  national  constitution  and  threatened  the 
defection  of  the  Rhineland  from  the  Prussian  monarchy  in 
case  of  non-compliance.  But  the  Prussian  government  had 
long  ceased  to  be  frightened  by  mere  mass-meetings  or  by 
high-sounding  phrases,  when  there  was  not  a  strong  revolu- 
tionary force  behind  them. 

Clearly,  to  save  the  national  constitution,  quick  action 
was  absolutely  needed.  Again  the  Rhenish  people  turned  their 
eyes  upon  their  capital,  Cologne;  but  such  masses  of  troops 
had  been  concentrated  there  that  a  rising  would  not  have  had 
the  slightest  prospect  of  success.  In  the  manufacturing  dis- 
tricts on  the  right  bank  of  the  Rhine  the  revolt  really  broke 
out.  The  immediate  occasion  was  an  order  issued  by  the  Prus- 
sian government  to  mobilize  the  army-corps  of  the  Rhine  prov- 
ince for  the  purpose  of  sending  it  against  the  defenders  of  the 
national  constitution  in  the  Bavarian  Palatinate  and  in  Baden, 
where  provisional  governments  had  been  set  up  by  the  revo- 
lutionists. To  this  end  the  "Landwehr"  (military  reserve) 
in  the  Rhineland  and  in  Westphalia  was  called  into  active  serv- 
ice. The  members  of  the  Landwehr  were  at  that  time,  as  they  are 
now,  men  between  twenty-five  and  thirty-five,  peasants,  trades- 
men, artisans,  merchants  or  professional  men,  many  of  them 
fathers  of  young  families.  To  interrupt  their  daily  work  and  to 
leave  their  wives  and  children  involved  to  most  of  them  a  heavy 
sacrifice.  This  sacrifice  was  all  the  heavier  when  they  were  called 
upon  to  help  beat  down  those  who  in  Baden  and  in  the  Palati- 
nate had  risen  for  the  unity  of  the  fatherland  and  the  liberty 
of  the  people,  and  with  whom  many,  if  not  a  large  majority,  of 
the  members  of  the  r  Landwehr  warmly  sympathized.  So  it 
happened  that  numerous  meetings  of  the  Landwehr  men  were 
held  for  the  purpose  of  declaring  that  they  would  not  obey  the 

[169] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
summons  to  arms.  There  was  actual  resistance  at  some  of  the 
depots  where  the  Landwehr  men  were  to  receive  their  arms 
and  equipments.  In  Diisseldorf,  Iserlohn  and  Elberfeld,  ap- 
parently formidable  uprisings  took  place. 

Such  uprisings  could  clearly  have  had  a  possibility  of  suc- 
cess only  had  they  become  general  throughout  the  country ;  and 
indeed  it  looked  for  a  moment  as  if  the  disaffection  of  the 
members  of  the  Landwehr  in  the  Rhineland  and  Westphalia 
would  spread  and  become  the  starting-point  of  a  powerful 
general  movement.  But  what  was  to  be  done  had  to  be  done 
quickly. 

In  this  aspect  the  question  of  the  moment  confronted 
us  in  Bonn.  Kinkel  had  returned  from  Berlin  and  was  on  the 
spot.  The  Chamber,  a  member  of  which  he  was,  had  once  more 
urged  the  king  to  recognize  the  national  constitution  and  to 
accept  the  imperial  crown,  and  the  king  thereupon  had  dis- 
solved it.  Kinkel  was  then  in  Bonn  the  recognized  democratic 
leader. .  Now  he  had  to  show  his  ability  to  act  promptly  or  to 
relinquish  the  leadership  to  others  in  the  decisive  hour.  He  did 
not  hesitate  a  moment.  But  what  was  to  be  done?  That  the 
Landwehr,  at  least  the  largest  part  thereof,  did  not  wish  to 
take  up  arms  against  the  defenders  of  the  national  constitu- 
tion, was  certain.  But  in  order  to  maintain  this  refusal,  the 
Landwehr  haM  to  take  up  arms  against  the  Prussian  govern- 
ment. To  make  this  resistance  effective,  immediate  organiza- 
tion on  a  large  scale  was  necessary.  If  the  members  of  the 
Landwehr  were  ready  for  that,  they  could  do  nothing  simpler 
and  better  than  to  take  possession  of  the  arms  which  were 
stored  in  the  different  Landwehr  armories,  and  then  under 
their  own  leaders  make  front  against  the  Prussian  govern- 
ment. Such  an  armory  was  situated  at  Siegburg,  a  little  town 
a  short  distance  from  Bonn  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Rhine.  It 

[170] 


KARL    MARX 


OF  THE       (r- 

UNIVERSITY 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
contained  muskets  and  other  equipments  enough  to  arm  a  con- 
siderable body  of  fighters,  who  then,  joined  to  the  insurrec- 
tionists in  the  manufacturing  districts,  might  have  formed  a 
respectable  power  and  spread  the  rising  in  all  directions.  This 
was  the  thought  which  occurred  with  more  or  less  clearness  to 
the  democrats  in  Bonn,  and  they  found  also  a  military  head 
for  the  execution  of  the  plan  in  the  person  of  a  late  artillery 
lieutenant,  Fritz  Anneke,  who  came  from  Cologne.  The 
Landwehr  of  the  district  had  been  summoned  to  Siegburg  on 
May  11,  to  be  mustered  into  service.  Thus  time  was  pressing. 

On  May  10  we  had  in  Bonn  a  meeting  of  Landwehr  men 
from  the  town  and  the  immediate  neighborhood.  During  the 
morning  hours  a  large  multitude  assembled  in  a  public  hall. 
The  citizen  elected  to  preside  admonished  the  men  to  refuse 
obedience  to  the  call  of  the  Prussian  government;  if  arms 
were  to  be  taken  up  at  all,  it  must  be  against  those  who  sought 
to  rob  the  German  people  of  their  liberty  and  unity.  The  men 
received  this  admonition  with  many  signs  of  warm  assent. 
The  meeting  continued  during  the  whole  day.  The  number  of 
Landwehr  men  coming  in  increased  from  hour  to  hour.  Dif- 
ferent speakers  addressed  them,  all  in  the  same  sense,,  and,  as 
it  appeared,  with  the  same  effect.  It  was  agreed  that  the  blow 
against  the  armory  at  Siegburg  should  be  struck  the  following 
night.  To  this  end  it  was  essential  to  hold  the  men  together 
during  the  day,  so  that  as  large  a  number  as  possible  might 
take  part  in  the  expedition. 

To  keep  the  men  together  during  the  whole  day  was  not 
easy.  Some  money  had  been  raised  to  provide  for  their  meals. 
But  that  alone  was  not  sufficient.  Kinkel,  after  having  deliv- 
ered his  last  lecture  at  the  university,  spoke  to  the  meeting  at 
four  o'clock  of  the  afternoon.  With  glowing  words  he  inflamed 
the  patriotic  sentiments  of  the  audience,  admonishing  them  ur- 

[171] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
gently  to  stay  together,  as  now  the  hour  of  decisive  action  had 
come,  and  promised  them  at  the  conclusion  of  his  speech  that 
he  would  soon  be  with  them  again,  to  share  their  fate  at  the 
moment  of  danger. 

I  spent  part  of  the  day  at  the  meeting,  and  part  with  the 
executive  committee  of  the  democratic  club.  There  we  received 
the  current  reports  from  Elberf eld  and  from  the  democratic 
clubs  of  the  neighborhood  as  to  their  readiness  for  action; 
and  the  arrangements  were  made  for  the  march  to  Siegburg 
after  dark.  Specific  instructions  were  given  to  every  member. 

There  was  so  much  running  to  and  fro  during  the  whole 
day  that  many  details  of  what  happened  are  no  longer  in  my 
memory.  But  I  remember  that  as  often  as  I  appeared  on  the 
street,  I  was  stopped  by  student-friends  with  the  question 
what  was  in  the  wind,  and  whether  they  should  march  along 
with  us ;  whereupon  I  told  them  what  I  had  resolved  myself  to 
do  in  this  crisis,  and  that  each  one  of  them  would  have  to  shape 
his  conduct  upon  his  own  responsibility.  Under  the  feverish 
excitement  of  the  last  days  I  had  come  to  that  desperate  state 
of  mind  which  will  do  and  dare  anything.  It  was  evident  to 
me  that  if  the  fruits  of  the  revolution  were  to  be  saved,  we 
must  not  shrink  from  any  risk. 

I  also  vividly  remember  how  at  dusk  of  evening  I  went 
home  to  tell  my  parents  what  had  happened  and  what  I  con- 
sidered it  my  duty  to  do,  and  to  bid  farewell  to  my  family. 
Since  the  breaking  out  of  the  revolution  my  parents  had  taken 
the  warmest  interest  in  the  course  of  events.  They  had 
always  been  enthusiastic  in  the  cause  of  a  united  Germany  and 
of  free  government.  Our  political  sentiments  were  therefore 
in  hearty  accord.  My  father  was  a  member  of  the  democratic 
club,  and  rejoiced  to  see  me  among  its  most  active  members 
and  to  hear  me  speak.  The  noble  nature  of  my  mother  had 

[172] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
always  clung  with  enthusiastic  zeal  to  what  she  considered  to 
be  right  and  just.  Both  had  watched  developments  suffi- 
ciently to  anticipate  the  approach  of  a  catastrophe.  The 
announcement  I  made  to  them  did  therefore  not  surprise 
them.  It  was  not  unexpected  to  them  that  I  had  to  take  part 
in  an  enterprise  that  was  so  dangerous  and  for  me  so  full  of 
consequences.  At  once  they  recognized  my  honorable  obli- 
gation. To  be  sure,  their  hopes  for  the  future  rested  upon  me. 
I  was  to  be  the  support  of  the  family  in  the  struggle  for  exist- 
ence. But  without  a  moment's  hesitation  and  without  a  word 
of  complaint  they  gave  up  all  for  what  they  considered  a  duty 
of  patriotism.  Like  the  Spartan  woman  or  the  Roman  matron 
of  whom  we  read,  my  mother  went  to  the  room  where  my 
sword  hung  and  gave  it  to  me  with  the  one  admonition 
that  I  should  use  it  with  honor.  And  nothing  could  have 
been  further  from  her  mind  than  the  thought  that  in  this  act 
there  was  something  heroic. 

Before  I  left  the  house  I  went  for  a  moment  to  my  study. 
From  the  window  I  had  a  free  outlook  on  the  Rhine  and  the 
lovely  Seven  Mountains.  How  often,  gazing  upon  this  charm- 
ing picture,  had  I  dreamed  of  a  quiet  and  beautiful  life!  Now 
I  could  in  the  darkness  distinguish  only  the  outline  of  my  be- 
loved hills  against  the  horizon.  Here  was  my  room  quiet  as 
ever.  How  often  had  I  peopled  it  with  my  imaginings!  Here 
were  my  books  and  manuscripts,  all  testifying  of  hopes,  plans, 
and  endeavors,  which  now  perhaps  had  to  be  left  behind  for- 
ever. An  instinctive  feeling  told  me  that  all  this  was  now 
over. 

At  the  same  hour  Kinkel  took  leave  of  his  wife  and 
children,  and  then  returned  to  the  meeting,  where  he  appeared 
on  the  platform  armed  with  a  musket.  With  impressive  words 
he  announced  to  his  hearers  what  was  to  be  done  to-night  and 

[173] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
what  he  himself  was  resolved  to  do.  He  urged  nobody  to  fol- 
low him  blindly.  He  concealed  from  nobody  the  danger  of  the 
enterprise.  Only  those  who  in  the  extreme  need  of  the  father- 
land felt  it  to  be  their  duty,  he  summoned  to  march  with  him 
in  the  ranks. 

I  had  been  instructed  to  see  to  it  that  the  ferry  across  the 
Rhine  should  be  at  our  disposal.  It  was  dark  when  I  went  to 
my  appointed  place  on  the  bank  of  the  river.  There  I  found 
a  fellow-student,  Ludwig  Meyer,  with  whom  I  crossed  the 
river  in  a  rowboat.  On  the  other  side  we  met  according  to 
agreement  a  troop  of  companions.  At  once  we  took  posses- 
sion of  the  ferry,  the  so-called  flying  bridge,  ordered  the  ferry- 
man to  swing  it  over  to  Bonn,  and  then  to  take  it  back  to  the 
right  bank  of  the  Rhine,  loaded  with  a  crowd  of  armed  men. 
This  was  the  force  that  was  to  march  to  Siegburg  and  seize 
the  armory.  Kinkel  appeared  well  armed.  Two  of  our  friends 
were  on  horseback,  the  rest  on  foot,  most  of  them  provided 
with  weapons  of  some  kind,  but  not  a  great  many  with  guns. 
Tome  was  given  a  rifle,  but  without  fitting  ammunition. 

Our  commander,  Anneke,  mustered  the  crowd  and  di- 
vided it  into  sections.  One  of  these  was  put  under  the  com- 
mand of  Josef  Gerhardt,  who  at  a  later  period  went  to  Amer- 
ica and  did  good  service  as  colonel  of  a  Union  regiment  in 
the  Civil  War.  Anneke  found  that  his  troop  did  not  count 
over  one  hundred  and  twenty  men,  and  could  not  refrain  from 
giving  bitter  expression  to  his  disappointment.  Many  of  those 
who  attended  the  meeting  during  the  day  had  in  the  darkness 
slunk  away  when  the  signal  was  given  to  march.  Patriotic  im- 
pulses that  in  the  morning  were  fresh  and  warm  had  cooled 
off  in  the  many  hours  that  elapsed  between  the  first  resolution 
and  the  moment  for  action. 

Our  column  being  formed  in  order,  Anneke  made  a  short 

[174] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
speech,  in  which  he  set  forth  the  need  of  discipline  and  obedi- 
ence, and  then  the  march  began.  About  half  an  hour  after  our 
start  one  of  our  horsemen,  who  had  remained  behind,  came  up 
at  a  gallop  with  the  report  that  the  dragoons,  then  garrisoned 
in  Bonn,  were  at  our  heels,  to  attack  us.  This  report  should 
have  surprised  nobody,  for  during  the  day  and  the  evening  the 
preparations  for  our  enterprise  had  been  carried  on  so  openly 
that  it  would  have  been  astonishing  had  the  authorities  received 
no  knowledge  of  it,  and  had  they  not  taken  measures  to  frus- 
trate the  expedition.  Moreover,  we  had  forgotten  to  make  the 
ferry  behind  us  unserviceable.  Nevertheless  the  announcement 
of  the  approach  of  the  dragoons  produced  in  our  ranks  consid- 
erable consternation.  Anneke  ordered  our  horsemen  to  hasten 
back  and  to  reconnoiter  as  to  the  nearness  and  strength  of  our 
pursuers.  Meanwhile  our  march  was  accelerated  so  that  we 
might  possibly  reach  the  River  Sieg  and  cross  it  before  the 
arrival  of  the  dragoons ;  but  in  this  we  failed.  Long  before  we 
approached  the  river,  we  heard  not  far  behind  us  the  trumpet- 
signal  ordering  the  dragoons  to  trot  their  horses.  Anneke, 
who  evidently  was  not  very  confident  of  the  ability  of  his  men 
to  face  regular  soldiers  in  a  fight,  halted  our  column  and  told 
us  that  we  were  evidently  not  in  a  condition  to  offer  success- 
ful resistance  to  regular  troops;  we  should  therefore  disperse, 
and  if  we  wanted  to  make  ourselves  further  useful  to  the 
cause  of  the  fatherland,  we  might  find  our  way  to  Elber- 
feld  or  to  the  Palatinate,  where  he  was  ready  to  go.  This 
signal  to  disperse  was  at  once  obeyed.  Most  of  the  men 
scattered  over  the  surrounding  cornfields,  while  some  of  us, 
perhaps  twenty,  stood  still  by  the  side  of  the  road.  The  dra- 
goons quietly  passed  us  at  a  trot  on  their  way  to  Siegburg. 
There  were  only  some  thirty  of  them,  not  enough  therefore  to 
overcome  us  or  even  to  force  their  way  through  on  the  road, 

[175] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
if  those   of  us   who   had   firearms   had   offered   an   orderly 
resistance. 

When  the  dragoons  had  passed  by  and  only  a  handful 
of  our  people  had  again  found  themselves  together,  a  feel- 
ing of  profound  shame  overcame  us.  Our  enterprise  had 
not  only  come  to  an  unfortunate,  but  a  ridiculous  and  dis- 
graceful end.  Our  column  had  taken  to  the  fields  before  only  a 
handful  of  soldiers,  scarcely  one-third  of  our  number.  And 
this  after  the  big  words  with  which  many  had  pledged  them- 
selves to  the  cause  of  German  liberty  and  unity.  I  looked  for 
Kinkel,  but  I  could  not  find  him  in  the  darkness.  At  last  I 
discerned  Ludwig  Meyer  and  others  of  my  nearer  friends, 
who  all  felt  as  I  did,  and  we  resolved  at  once  to  go  on  to  see  what 
might  still  be  done.  So  we  marched  after  the  dragoons  and 
reached  the  town  of  Siegburg  shortly  before  daybreak.  The 
democratic  club,  with  which  we  had  been  in  communication  and 
the  leaders  of  which  had  been  expecting  us  during  the  night, 
had  its  headquarters  in  a  tavern,  and  there  we  went.  With 
them  we  discussed  the  question  whether,  in  spite  of  the  miser- 
able failure  of  the  preceding  night  and  the  occupation  of  the 
armory  by  the  dragoons,  we  might  not  after  all  take  that  build- 
ing by  assault*  and  organize  a  respectable  movement  in  aid  of 
our  friends  in  Diisseldorf  and  Elberfeld.  The  democrats  of 
Siegburg  could  see  little  to  encourage  us.  I  was  in  a  state  of 
feverish  excitement,  and  although  extremely  tired,  could  not 
sleep.  In  the  course  of  the  morning  a  considerable  multitude 
got  together,  members  of  the  Landwehr,  and  their  friends 
from  the  vicinity.  Soon  we  began  to  make  speeches  before 
large  crowds,  and  the  storming  of  the  armory  was  repeatedly 
urged.  A  rumor  came  that  during  the  day  a  fight  had  broken 
out  between  citizens  and  soldiers  in  Bonn,  and  I  communicated 
that  rumor  to  the  assembled  multitude;  but  further  informa- 

[176] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
tion  having  arrived,  I  had  to  my  shame  to  confess  that  the 
tale  was  not  true.  I  was  nervously  eager  to  wash  out  the 
disgrace  of  the  night  before,  and  to  try  the  utmost  for  our 
cause,  even  under  the  most  unfavorable  circumstances.  But 
it  was  all  in  vain.  The  evening  came,  the  crowds  dispersed, 
and  I  had  at  last  to  make  up  my  mind  that  the  people  we  had 
before  us  could  not  be  moved  to  do  anything  desperate.  Meyer 
and  I  resolved  to  go  where  there  was  fighting  in  prospect,  and 
set  out  for  Elberfeld.  We  reached  that  town  the  next  day. 

There  we  found  barricades  on  the  streets,  much  noise 
in  the  taverns,  only  a  small  number  of  armed  men,  and  no  dis- 
cipline nor  united  leadership.  Evidently  here  was  no  chance 
of  success.  Nothing  could  come  of  this,  except  perhaps  a 
hopeless  fight  or  a  speedy  capitulation.  Meyer  and  I  resolved 
therefore  to  go  to  the  Palatinate.  Soon  we  were  on  board  a 
steamboat  running  up  the  Rhine.  I  wrote  home  asking  my 
parents  to  send  me  some  necessary  things  to  our  friend  Nathan 
at  Sanct  Goarshausen,  and  on  the  evening  of  the  same  day 
we  arrived  under  his  hospitable  roof  in  the  shadow  of  the 
Loreley-rock. 

-  There  I  had  my  first  quiet  hours  after  the  terrible  excite- 
ment of  the  last  four  days.  When  I  awoke  from  profound 
sleep  all  that  had  happened  appeared  to  me  like  a  dismal 
dream,  and  then  again  as  a  clear,  more  dismal  reality.  The 
thought  struck  me  for  the  first  time  that  now,  although  safe 
enough  for  the  time  being  in  Nathan's  house,  I  was  a  fugitive, 
running  away  from  the  authorities;  it  was  certain  that  they 
would  not  permit  an  attempt  upon  one  of  their  armories  to 
pass  unpunished.  This  was  a  singularly  uncomfortable  feel- 
ing ;  but  a  much  more  hideous  thought  followed — that  I  could 
not  be  proud  of  the  act  to  which  I  owed  my  outlawry,  although 
its  purpose  had  been  patriotic.  The  outcome  had  been  miser- 

[177] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
able  enough  to  make  impossible  my  return  to  my  friends,  until 
the  shame  of  it  had  been  wiped  out.  But  my  prof  oundest  grief 
was  not  with  regard  to  myself.  It  was  the  knowledge  that  all 
the  insurrectionary  attempts  in  Prussia  had  failed,  and  that 
the  Prussian  government  had  its  hands  entirely  free  to  turn 
against  the  insurgents  in  Baden  and  the  Palatinate.  I  tried 
indeed  to  lift  myself  up  to  the  belief  that  so  great,  so  just,  so 
sacred  a  cause  as  that  of  German  unity  and  free  government 
could  not  possibly  fail,  and  that  undoubtedly  I  would  still  have 
some  opportunity  to  contribute  to  its  victory,  be  it  ever  so 
little.  I  have  never  forgotten  the  hours  which  I  spent  with 
Meyer  and  Wessel,  one  of  our  friends  of  the  Franconia,  who, 
while  not  compromised  politically,  had  followed  us  from 
friendship,  walking  up  and  down  discussing  these  matters 
under  the  Loreley-rock,  that  most  dreamy  nook  of  the  Rhine 
valley.  My  friend  Meyer  looked  at  the  situation  in  a  some- 
what soberer  spirit  than  I  could  command.  After  mature  con- 
sideration, in  which  probably  the  thought  of  his  family  played 
an  important  part,  he  concluded  to  return  to  Bonn  and  to 
take  the  chances  of  a  trial  for  his  participation  in  the  Siegburg 
affair.  I  did  not  try  to  urge  my  view  of  the  case  upon  my 
dear,  brave  comrade,  and  thus  we  had  to  part. 

The  leave-taking  from  Meyer  and  Wessel  was  very  hard 
to  me.  When  I  pressed  their  hands  for  the  last  time,  I  felt  as 
if  I  had  not  only  to  say  good-by  to  them,  but  also  again  to 
my  parents  and  sisters,  to  my  home,  to  all  my  dear  friends,  to 
my  whole  past.  And  now  farewell  to  the  beautiful  student 
life  and  its  precious  friendships,  its  ideal  endeavors  and 
hopes,  its  glorious  youthful  dreams! 

The  years  of  apprenticeship  were  over,  the  years  of  wan- 
dering began.  My  friends  journeyed  down  the  Rhine  to  Bonn 
and  I  alone  up  the  Rhine  to  Mainz.  \> 

[178] 


CHAPTER  VII 

1 N  Mainz  I  learned  from  a  member  of  the  democratic  club 
that  Kinkel  had  already  passed  through  on  his  way  to  the 
Palatinate.  Mr.  Zitz,  one  of  the  democratic  leaders  of  Mainz, 
who  had  organized  a  corps  of  volunteers  in  the  neighborhood, 
and  was  to  be  found  at  the  little  city  of  Kircheimbolander, 
would  probably  be  able  to  tell  me  more.  I  therefore  set  out 
on  foot  to  that  place,  carrying  my  baggage  in  a  knapsack  on 
my  back.  I  found  Mr.  Zitz,  a  tall,  stately  man,  surrounded 
by  his  apparently  well-armed  and  disciplined  free  corps.  (Mr. 
Zitz,  a  few  years  later,  was  well  known  in  New  York  as  a 
member  of  the  law  firm  of  Zitz  &  Kapp.)  The  camp  looked 
orderly  and  well-managed.  The  artillery  consisted  of  three  or 
four  little  cannon,  such  as  were  commonly  used  to  make  a  noise 
at  popular  frolics.  Mr.  Zitz  told  me  that  Kinkel  had  gone  to 
Kaiserslautern,  the  revolutionary  capital  of  the  Palatinate,  to 
offer  his  services  to  the  provisional  government.  I  marched 
on,  and  found  Kinkel  and  Anneke  both  in  the  best  of  humor. 
They  welcomed  me  heartily,  quartered  me  in  a  tavern,  and 
told  me  that  soon  they  might  give  me  something  to  do. 

The  next  morning  I  rose  bright  and  early.  With  especial 
curiosity  I  observed  how  people  under  a  revolutionary  condi- 
tion look.  I  found  that  the  guests  in  the  tavern  breakfasted 
as  calmly  as  ever.  I  was  told  that  the  son  of  mine  host  would 
celebrate  his  wedding  in  a  few  days,  and  that  great  prepara- 
tions were  going  on  for  the  festivity.  There  was,  indeed,  a 
good  deal  of  bustle  on  the  streets — here  persons  who  seemed 
to  be  following  their  daily  vocation  in  the  accustomed  way; 

[179] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
there  troops  of  young  men  in  their  ordinary  dress  with  muskets 
on  their  shoulders,  who  evidently  belonged  to  the  "  Volks- 
wehr" — volunteer  guard — in  process  of  formation;  between 
them,  soldiers  in  the  Bavarian  uniform  who  had  passed  over 
to  the  people;  and  even  policemen,  in  their  official  uniform 
with  swords  at  their  sides,  and  engaged  in  their  regular 
functions  as  guardians  of  safety  and  order.  At  this  I  was 
not  a  little  surprised,  but  I  learned  that  these  policemen  had 
taken  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  national  constitution,  that 
they  served  the  provisional  government,  and  were  generally 
very  good  fellows.  On  the  whole  I  found  that  although  the 
leaders  of  the  revolutionary  movement  had  their  busy  hours 
of  care  and  trouble,  the  population  was  in  a  condition  of  merry 
contentment,  enjoying  the  charm  of  the  moment  without 
bothering  much  with  thoughts  of  what  the  coming  day  would 
bring.  There  was  a  sort  of  general  Sunday  afternoon  atmos- 
phere, a  real  picnic  humor — very  amiable,  but  not  at  all  cor- 
responding with  the  conception  which  I  had  formed  of  the 
seriousness  of  a  revolutionary  situation.  I  soon  learned  to 
understand  that  this  good  humor  sprung  from  the  generally 
sunny  disposition  of  the  people  of  the  Palatinate. 

The  Bavarian  Palatinate  is  a  country  richly  blessed  by 
nature;  the  beauty  of  the  landscape  and  the  wealth  of  its  re- 
sources are  well  apt  to  nourish  in  its  inhabitants  a  natural 
disposition  to  enjoy  life  merrily.  The  Pfaelzers  had  been 
known  from  immemorial  times  for  their  light-heartedness. 
They  were  an  intelligent  and  excitable  folk,  good-natured 
and  enthusiastic,  self-confident,  and  perhaps  also  a  little  given 
to  contentiousness.  There  were  very  few  poor  among  them, 
at  that  time  at  least,  except  in  one  small  district.  It  was,  there- 
fore, by  no  means  want  or  distress  that  made  the  Pfaelzers 
discontented  and  revolutionary.  The  Vienna  Congress,  after 

[180] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
the  Napoleonic  wars,  had  assigned  the  Palatinate  to  the  king 
of  Bavaria,  but  as  that  province  was  not  contiguous  to  the 
rest  of  the  kingdom,  it  had  not  the  feeling  of  really  belong- 
ing to  it.  A  Bavarian  patriotism  would  never  grow  in  the 
Palatinate.  When  the  Bavarian  government  sent  "  Old- 
Bavarian  "  officers  into  the  Palatinate  to  help  govern  its 
people,  the  attitude  toward  one  another  became  still  more 
unfriendly,  as  the  hungry  "  Old-Bavarians,"  it  was  said,  were 
sent  to  the  rich  Palatinate  to  grow  fat.  Their  relations  were 
much  like  those  that  existed  between  the  Prussian  province 
on  the  Rhine  and  old  Prussia.  The  Pfaelzers  were  there- 
fore in  almost  constant  opposition  to  Old-Bavaria,  and  this 
opposition  would  have  been  sufficient  to  drive  them  into  the 
ranks  of  the  liberals  had  not  liberal  ways  of  thinking  and 
feeling  been  natural  to  this  vivacious  and  enlightened  popula- 
tion. That  this  liberalism  bore  a  decided  German-national 
character  was  a  matter  of  course.  In  fact,  one  of  the  most 
famous  national  demonstrations  at  the  beginning  of  the 
thirties,  the  celebrated  "  Hambacher  Pest,"  had  taken  place  in 
the  Palatinate,  and  among  the  leaders  of  the  national  move- 
ment there  were  always  Pfaelzers  in  the  foremost  ranks. 

When  the  king  of  Bavaria  refused  to  recognize  the  na- 
tional constitution  made  by  the  Frankfurt  Parliament,  the 
general  indignation  in  the  Palatinate  broke  out  in  furious 
flame.  It  was  a  natural  sentiment  with  the  Pfaelzers  that  if 
the  king  of  Bavaria  would  not  be  German,  the  Palatinate 
must  cease  to  be  Bavarian.  On  the  2d  of  May  an  immense 
mass-meeting  was  held  at  Kaiserslautern  in  which  all  the 
liberal  clubs  of  the  Palatinate  were  represented.  This  meet- 
ing elected  a  committee  for  the  "  defense  of  the  country, 
which,  according  to  the  resolutions  adopted,  was  to  take  the 
government  of  the  province  into  its  hands  and  to  organize  an 

[181] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
armed  force.  This  action  accorded  with  the  universal  will  of 
the  population  of  the  Palatinate,  with  the  exception,  perhaps, 
of  a  very  few  civil  and  military  officers. 

The  terrible  confusion  which  the  refusal  of  the  king  of 
Prussia  to  accept  the  imperial  crown  under  the  national  con- 
stitution had  brought  upon  all  Germany  came  now  to  light 
in  an  almost  grotesque  manner.  As  already  mentioned,  the 
national  parliament  had,  on  the  4th  of  May,  summoned  "  the 
governments,  the  legislative  bodies,  the  communes  of  the 
several  German  states,  the  whole  German  people,  to  see  to  it 
that  the  constitution  of  the  German  Empire  be  generally  rec- 
ognized and  practically  introduced."  Inasmuch  as  the  king 
of  Bavaria  would  not  recognize  the  national  constitution,  the 
Pfaelzers  felt  themselves  justified  in  rising  against  the 
Bavarian  government,  for  they  only  obeyed  the  national  par- 
liament, which  they  regarded  as  the  highest  national  authority 
in  Germany.  The  "  Committee  for  the  Defense  of  the  Coun- 
try," therefore,  quite  logically  applied  to  the  national  parlia- 
ment through  their  representatives  in  that  body,  and  to  the 
national  central  power,  for  recognition,  protection,  and  sup- 
port. The  national  central  power,  at  the  head  of  which  stood 
the  Austrian  Archduke  Johann,  thereupon  sent  an  imperial 
commissioner,  Dr.  Eisenstuck,  to  the  Palatinate  with  the  in- 
struction "  to  take  in  the  name  of  the  imperial  power  all  meas- 
ures necessary  for  the  restoration  of  the  laws  in  that  country," 
and  especially  to  see  to  it  that  some  of  the  resolutions  adopted 
by  the  "  Committee  for  the  Defense  of  the  Country  "  be  re- 
scinded. The  imperial  commissioner,  after  due  investigation, 
declared  those  resolutions  to  be  invalid,  but  he  recognized  the 
"  Committee  for  the  Defense  of  the  Country  "  and  for  the 
execution  of  the  national  constitution  as  fully  competent  to 
organize  an  armed  power  and  to  swear  in  the  members  thereof 

[  182  ] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
to  obey  the  national  constitution,  and  in  case  of  necessity  to 
defend  that  constitution  by  independent  action   against  all 
attacks  by  force.  With  this,  of  course,  Archduke  Johann,  who 
had  sent  him,  was  not  pleased. 

That  prince  had  originally  become  distasteful  to  the  Aus- 
trian court  by  marrying  a  young  woman  who  did  not  belong 
to  the  nobility,  and  by  uttering  now  and  then  a  liberal  senti- 
ment. This  had  put  him  in  the  odor  of  liberalism  with  the 
great  public,  and  to  this  circumstance  he  owed  his  election  to 
the  office  of  regent  of  the  empire  in  1848.  It  was  not  unnat- 
ural at  all  that  this  election  created  in  him  the  desire  to  obtain 
for  himself  the  imperial  crown.  When  the  king  of  Prussia 
was  elected  emperor  the  archduke  was  greatly  disappointed, 
and  he  showed  his  displeasure  at  once  by  offering  to  the  na- 
tional parliament  his  resignation  as  regent  of  the  empire.  He 
permitted  himself,  however,  to  be  pursuaded  to  withdraw  that 
resignation  for  the  time  being,  and  he  did  this  all  the  more 
willingly  as  he  received  from  the  Austrian  court  the  sugges- 
tion that  he  should  not  abandon  so  important  an  office  while 
it  existed,  because  through  it  he  might  do  very  important 
service  to  the  dynastic  interest  of  Austria.  That  dynastic  in- 
terest of  Austria  was,  at  the  time,  to  prevent  by  every  means 
the  elevation  of  the  king  of  Prussia  to  the  dignity  of  German 
emperor;  and  also  not  to  permit  any  constitution  of  the  Ger- 
man empire  which  did  not  comprise  the  whole  of  Austria, 
including  its  Hungarian  and  Slavic  populations,  and  in  which 
Austria  did  not  occupy  the  leading  place.  The  national  con- 
stitution, which  was  actually  adopted  by  the  Frankfurt  parlia- 
ment, making  Prussia  the  leading  power,  was  therefore  to  the 
Austrian  court  an  abomination.  The  liberalism  of  the  Arch- 
duke Johann  may  originally  have  been  ever  so  genuine — cer- 
tain it  is  that  he  had  the  monarchical  interest  in  general,  and  the 

[183] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
Austrian  interest  in  particular,  more  at  heart  than  the  national 
constitution  and  German  unity. 

Now  the  following  situation  of  things  presented  itself ; 
the  German  national  parliament  had  created  an  executive  au- 
thority in  the  form  of  the  "  Provisional  Central  Power,"  with 
the  Archduke  Johann  as  regent,  in  order  to  enforce  respect  to 
its  orders  and  its  laws.  The  most  important  of  the  utterances 
of  its  will  consisted  in  the  national  constitution  and  the  elec- 
tion of  the  king  of  Prussia  as  German  emperor.  The  king 
of  Prussia,  that  is,  the  emperor-elect,  refusing  to  recognize  the 
national  constitution  as  rightfully  existing,  and  declined  to 
accept  his  election.  The  national  parliament  thereupon  sum- 
moned not  only  all  German  governments,  but  also  all  legisla- 
tive bodies  and  the  communes  of  the  German  states,  etc.,  in 
fact,  the  whole  people,  to  enforce  the  national  constitution. 
The  people  of  the  Palatinate  did  exactly  what  the  national 
parliament  had  ordered  the  German  people  to  do.  The 
Pfaelzers  had  risen  for  the  national  constitution,  against 
the  king  of  Bavaria,  who  refused  to  recognize  that  constitu- 
tion. The  imperial  commissioner,  sent  by  the  regent  of  the 
empire  into  the  Palatinate,  found  himself  obliged,  by  the  logic 
of  circumstances  as  well  as  by  his  loyalty  to  the  national  par- 
liament, to  confirm  the  "  Committee  for  the  Defense  of  the 
Country"  in  the  Palatinate,  and  to  recognize  it  as  lawfully 
empowered  to  resist  all  forcible  attacks  upon  the  national 
constitution.  And  what  then  did  the  imperial  regent  who  had 
been  appointed  for  the  purpose  of  enforcing  the  will  of  the 
national  parliament,  and  especially  to  secure  the  recognition 
and  introduction  of  the  national  constitution,  do?  He  recalled 
the  imperial  commissioner  at  once,  and  then  went  to  work  to 
suppress  by  force  of  arms  the  popular  movement  which  had 
been  set  on  foot  in  compliance  with  the  summons  of  the  na- 

[184] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
tional  parliament  for  the  defense  and  introduction  of  the 
national  constitution.  And  for  this  act  of  suppression  mainly 
Prussian  troops  were  selected — troops  of  the  same  king  who 
in  March,  1848,  had  solemnly  promised  to  put  himself  at  the 
head  of  the  national  movement  and  to  merge  Prussia  in  Ger- 
many; who  then  had  been  elected  German  emperor;  and  who 
now  was  to  strike  down  those  who  insisted  that  he  should  be- 
come German  emperor. 

It  has  been  said  in  defense  of  this  monstrous  proceeding 
that  the  popular  uprising  for  the  national  constitution  in  the 
Palatinate  and  in  Baden  was  mixed  up  with  strong  repub- 
lican tendencies ;  that  is,  with  the  desire  to  subvert  the  existing 
political  order  of  things.  This  is  true  to  a  certain  extent,  but 
it  is  also  true  that  if  the  German  princes  had  loyally  done  that 
which  in  March,  1848,  they  had  given  the  German  people  the 
fullest  right  to  expect  that  they  would  do,  and  if  the  king 
of  Prussia  and  his  brother-kings  had  accepted  the  national 
constitution,  they  would  have  neutralized,  disintegrated,  and 
rendered  powerless  all  republican  movements  in  Germany. 
The  German  people  at  large  would  have  been  satisfied.  They 
would  undoubtedly  have  consented  even  to  some  changes  in 
the  monarchical  sense  in  the  national  constitution.  And  it  is 
no  less  true  that  the  manner  in  which  the  kings,  after  so  many 
beautiful  promises  and  pledges,  sought  to  disappoint  the  hopes 
of  the  German  people  for  national  unity,  was  only  too  certain 
to  destroy  all  faith  in  their  national  sentiment,  and  to  create 
the  opinion  that  only  by  means  of  republicanism  a  united  Ger- 
man nation  could  be  formed.  The  attitude  of  the  king  of 
Prussia,  as  well  as  the  kings  of  Bavaria,  Hanover,  and  Sax- 
ony, placed  before  the  German  people  the  clear  alternative 
either  to  abandon,  at  least  for  the  time  being,  all  endeavors 
for  German  unity  and  political  freedom,  or  to  strive  for  the 

[  185  ] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
realization  of  these  objects  by  means  which  are  termed  by 
governments  revolutionary.  The  pitiable  history  of  Germany 
during  the  next  ten  years  has  strikingly  demonstrated  that 
those  who  looked  at  the  situation  in  the  year  1849  in  the  light 
of  this  alternative  were  entirely  right. 

Let  us  now  return  to  the  Palatinate  and  the  recall  of 
the  imperial  commissioner.  At  first  attempts  were  made  to 
check  the  revolutionary  movement  in  the  Palatinate  with  small 
bodies  of  troops;  but  this  failed,  and  as  also  in  the  meanwhile 
by  the  uprising  of  the  people  and  the  defection  of  the  army 
in  Baden  the  situation  of  things  had  become  much  more  seri- 
ous, the  Prussian  government  began  to  mobilize  some  army 
corps  and  to  prepare  for  a  regular  campaign.  It  was  these, 
preparations  which  had  caused  the  various  revolts  in  the  Prus- 
sian provinces  on  the  Rhine  and  in  Westphalia.  The  Palati- 
nate was  now,  for  a  little  while,  left  to  itself,  and  the  good-na- 
tured and  sanguine  people  saw  in  this  temporary  quiet  a  sign 
that  the  king  of  Prussia  and  his  royal  associates  after  all 
disliked  openly  to  proceed  against  them  with  arms  in  their 
hands,  because  other  populations  in  Germany  might  be  as 
enthusiastic  for  the  cause  of  German  unity  and  liberty  as  the 
people  in  the  Palatinate  and  Baden.  They  preferred  to  believe 
that  the  uprising  would  end  as  merrily  as  it  had  begun ;  and  this 
explains  the  fact  that  the  popular  light-heartedness  in  the 
midst  of  revolutionary  events,  which  I  have  designated  as  a 
picnic  humor,  lasted  a  considerable  time.  The  cooler  heads 
indeed  did  not  indulge  in  such  delusions;  they  foresaw  that 
this  would  be  a  decisive  struggle  against  an  anti-national  and 
anti-liberal  reaction,  in  which  the  princes  and  court  parties 
would  put  into  the  field  their  large  and  well  organized  power, 
if  necessary  even  to  the  last  reserves,  and  that  against  this 
power  the  resources  of  the  Palatinate  and  of  Baden  looked 

[186] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
pitiably  inadequate.  In  the  Palatinate  a  small  number  of 
Bavarian  soldiers  had  come  out  for  the  popular  cause — that 
is  to  say,  they  had  left  their  colors  and  taken  the  oath  of 
allegiance  to  the  national  constitution  and  to  the  provisional 
government.  Aside  from  these  regular  soldiers,  the  provisional 
government  had  at  its  disposition  the  civic  guard  of  some  of 
the  cities,  which,  however,  could  be  used  only  for  local  service, 
and  were  indifferently  armed.  Then  they  had  the  little  corps 
under  Zitz — some  six  or  seven  hundred  men — and  a  small 
corps  under  Blenker,  and  finally  the  military  bodies  which 
were  still  to  be  organized  on  a  large  scale,  but  which  so  far 
were  insignificant  as  a  fighting  force.  It  would  probably  not 
have  been  difficult  to  raise  in  the  Palatinate  an  army  corps  of 
twenty  to  twenty-five  thousand  men  had  the  provisional  gov- 
ernment had  firearms  at  its  disposal.  Multitudes  of  volunteers 
offered  themselves,  but  as  no  guns  could  be  put  into  their 
hands  and  they  could  only  be  armed  with  spears,  many  of  them 
went  home  again.  An  attempt  to  import  muskets  from 
Belgium  failed,  because  they  were  intercepted  by  Prussian 
customs  officers  on  their  way  through  Prussian  territory.  An 
expedition  led  by  Blenker  to  surprise  the  fortress  of  Landau, 
situated  in  the  Palatinate,  which  contained  considerable  stores 
of  arms  and  military  equipments,  also  failed.  Thus  the  want 
of  arms  remained  one  of  the  most  pressing  cares. 

The  provisional  government  consisted  of  highly  honor- 
able, well-meaning,  and  brave  men,  who  should  not  be  blamed 
for  not  having  mastered  a  situation  which  would  have  tested 
the  resources  of  a  great  organizing  genius.  Nor  did  they  suc- 
ceed in  finding  military  men  equal  to  the  gigantic  task.  The 
chief  command  of  such  military  organization  as  they  had  they 
gave  first  to  a  former  leader  of  the  civic  guard  in  Vienna, 
Fenner  von  Fenneberg,  a  man  who  had  developed  into  a  pro- 

[187] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
fessional  revolutionist,  and  who  spent  his  time  mainly  in  blam- 
ing others  for  not  doing  what  had  to  be  done.  He  was  soon 
obliged  to  give  up  his  post,  and  the  command  then  passed  tem- 
porarily into  the  hands  of  a  military  commission  composed 
of  former  Prussian  officers,  Techow,  Beust,  Schimmelpfen- 
ning,  and  Anneke.  These  were  well-trained  men,  but  better 
fitted  to  take  command  of  bodies  of  troops  already  or- 
ganized and  equipped  than  to  create  an  army  in  a  country 
the  population  of  which  was  little  accustomed  to  discipline 
and  ready  obedience,  and  to  whom  Prussian  officers  with  their 
systematic  ways  and  abrupt  methods  were  not  very  sympa- 
thetic. Still  this  commission  accomplished  all  that  could  have 
been  expected  of  it.  Meanwhile  the  provisional  government 
had  engaged  for  a  considerable  sum  of  money  the  services  of 
an  old  Polish  general  by  the  name  of  Sznayde,  of  whom  it 
was  rumored  that  he  was  really  not  a  Pole,  but  a  German  by 
the  name  of  Schneider.  Men  who  had  served  as  officers  in  the 
great  Polish  revolutionary  wars  appeared  at  that  time  with 
a  sort  of  a  halo  of  revolutionary  heroism  around  their  heads. 
The  popular  legend  attributed  to  them  not  only  extraordinary 
bravery,  but  also  all  possible  military  talent,  and  exceptional 
familiarity  with  the  secrets  of  the  military  art.  It  was  as  if 
at  the  rallying  places  of  the  Polish  refugees,  especially  in  Paris 
and  Switzerland,  a  stock  of  generals  was  kept  in  store,  to  be 
occasionally  disposed  of  for  revolutionary  enterprises  in  any 
part  of  the  world.  Among  these  Polish  officers  there  were 
undoubtedly  men  of  very  respectable  ability,  such  as  Dembin- 
sky,  Bern,  Mieroslowski,  and  others;  but  also  much  worthless 
and  time-worn  material.  How  the  provisional  government  of 
the  Palatinate  hit  upon  General  Sznayde  I  do  not  know.  It 
was  said  that  in  the  Polish-Russian  war  of  1830-1831  he  had 
been  a  very  brave  cavalry  officer,  but  in  the  year  1849  it  would 

[188] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
have  been  difficult  to  find  a  general  less  fit  for  the  command 
of  the  volunteer  bodies  in  the  Palatinate.  He  was  a  very  fat 
and  ponderous  old  gentleman  who  looked  as  if  he  preferred  to 
wield  fork  and  knife  rather  than  the  sword,  and  to  whom  a 
good  night's  rest  would  be  much  more  welcome  than  the  tumult 
of  battle.  Neither  could  he  say  the  little  he  had  to  say  in  in- 
telligible German.  His  performance  as  an  organizer  of  the 
popular  army  consisted  mainly  in  hindering  the  military  com- 
mission that  was  to  aid  him.  The  consequence  was  that  while 
the  provisional  government  issued  an  abundance  of  appeals 
and  orders,  most  of  them  remained  unobserved.  After  a 
labor  of  six  weeks  the  Palatinate  had  not  more  than  seven 
to  eight  thousand  men,  most  of  whom  were  very  badly  armed, 
and  all  of  whom  were  indifferently  disciplined. 

In  the  neighboring  grand  duchy  of  Baden  things  looked 
much  more  favorable;  the  whole  infantry  and  artillery,  as 
well  as  the  largest  part  of  the  cavalry  of  the  state,  had  come 
over  to  the  popular  side  and  presented  a  well-equipped  army 
corps  of  about  fifteen  thousand  men.  Moreover,  the  fortress 
of  Rastatt  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  insurrectionists, 
with  all  its  stores  of  arms,  ammunition  and  equipments. 
Newly  formed  organizations  could  therefore  much  more  easily 
be  provided  with  all  the  necessaries,  and  thus  an  army  of  some 
forty  or  fifty  thousand  men  might  have  been  organized 
in  a  comparatively  short  time.  To  be  sure,  the  officers 
had  mostly  remained  true  to  the  grand  duke,  and  thus  sepa- 
rated themselves  from  their  commands,  but  their  places  had 
been  filled  with  promoted  corporals  and  sergeants,  and  among 
these  were  able  men  in  sufficient  numbers  to  maintain  among 
the  troops  tolerable  discipline.  Thus  the  revolution  appeared 
in  Baden  in  more  or  less  stately  armament. 

But  the  political  leaders  in  the  Palatinate  and  Baden 

[189] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
ought  to  have  recognized  from  the  start  that  the  utmost  ex- 
ertion of  their  strength  could  not  possibly  be  sufficient  to  re- 
sist the  united  power  of  the  German  princes,  or  even  that  of 
Prussia  alone.  There  was  no  hope  of  success  unless  the  popular 
uprising  spread  beyond  its  present  boundaries  into  the  rest  of 
Germany.  To  this  end  all  the  available  forces  that  could  be 
mustered  should  without  delay  have  been  thrown  across  the 
frontiers  in  order  to  draw  into  the  revolutionary  movement  the 
population  of  the  neighboring  states;  in  the  first  place  those 
of  Wiirtemberg  and  Hessen.  A  young  officer  of  Baden, 
Franz  Sigel,  who  had  been  promoted  to  major  by  the  provi- 
sional government,  recognized  this  clearly  enough,  and  he 
counseled  an  advance  into  Wiirtemberg.  The  provisional 
government  permitted  him  to  lead  an  expedition  into  the  grand 
duchy  of  Hessen  with  a  small  force,  but  after  an  unfortu- 
nate engagement  he  was  ordered  back.  The  provisional  gov- 
ernments of  Baden  and  of  the  Palatinate  could  not  screw  up 
their  courage  to  an  offensive  venture  across  their  boundaries; 
they  did  not  see  that  their  defeat  was  inevitable  if  they  waited 
in  a  defensive  attitude  for  the  attacks  of  the  hostile  forces. 
They  continued  to  cling  to  the  desperate  hope  that  the  Prus- 
sian government  after  all  at  the  last  moment  would  recoil 
from  an  active  assault  upon  the  defenders  of  the  national  con- 
stitution ;  or,  if  not,  that  the  Prussian  "  Landwehr  "  would 
refuse  to  fight  against  their  brothers  who  had  risen  for  a  com- 
mon cause.  Whatever  the  Landwehr  might  have  done  if  the 
revolutionary  army,  with  bold  resolution  and  victorious  cour- 
age, had  come  to  meet  them  on  their  own  ground,  and  had  so 
appealed  to  their  sympathies,  it  could  hardly  be  expected  of 
them  that  they  would  sacrifice  themselves  for  a  cause  which  was 
only  timidly  defended  by  its  champions.  But  however  clear  this 
should  have  been  at  the  time  to  the  leaders  in  Baden  and  the 

[190] 


•    THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
Palatinate,  the  provisional  governments  insisted  upon  remain- 
ing within  the  boundaries  of  their  own  little  countries  and 
thus  to  await  the  attack. 

On  the  day  after  my  arrival  in  Kaiserslautern  I  would 
have  enlisted  as  a  private  soldier  in  one  of  the  volunteer  bat- 
talions then  being  organized,  had  not  Anneke  not  advised  me 
not  to  be  in  too  much  of  a  hurry,  but  to  permit  him  to  find  a  fit 
position  for  me.  He  had  been  made  chief  of  artillery  in  the 
Palatinate,  and  said  he  could  employ  me  on  his  staff.  Two 
days  afterwards  he  brought  me  an  appointment  as  lieutenant, 
signed  by  the  provisional  government,  and  made  me  his  aide- 
de-camp.  Kinkel  found  employment  as  one  of  the  secretaries 
of  the  provisional  government.  The  artillery  of  the  Palat- 
inate consisted,  at  that  time,  of  only  the  four  little  guns  of 
the  corps  commanded  by  Zitz,  of  half  a  dozen  small  cannon, 
of  which  it  was  said  they  might  be  of  much  use  in  mountain 
warfare,  and  of  a  battery  of  six  pounders  obtained  from  the 
provisional  government  of  Baden.  The  field  of  activity  of 
the  artillery  chief  and  of  his  staff  was  therefore  a  limited  one ; 
and  I  was  not  displeased  when  I  was  told  that  until  the  be- 
ginning of  active  hostilities  I  might  also  be  employed  in 
political  affairs. 

I  was  now  and  then  sent  to  popular  meetings  which  were 
held  to  warm  the  patriotic  zeal  of  the  masses;  and  once  I 
received  an  order  to  effect  the  arrest  of  a  priest  who  used 
his  influence  in  his  parish — a  large  village  of  about  three 
thousand  inhabitants — to  keep  the  young  men  from  enlisting 
in  the  military  organizations  then  forming.  This  was  regarded 
as  a  sort  of  high  treason  against  the  new  order  of  things; 
and  the  priest  being  looked  upon  as  a  desperate  person  who 
might  possibly  offer  resistance,  a  little  body  of  fifty  men  was 
to  accompany  me  in  order  to  aid  me  in  the  execution  of  my 

[191] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
orders.  This  armed  force  did,  indeed,  not  look  very  formid- 
able; the  lieutenant  who  commanded  it  was  in  civilian  dress, 
except  that  he  wore  a  plume  on  his  hat  and  a  tri-colored  sash, 
and  a  sword.  Among  the  men  there  was  only  one  military 
uniform,  that  of  a  member  of  the  national  guard  of  Strasburg, 
whence  he  had  come  to  enjoy  with  us  the  revolutionary  frolic 
in  the  Palatinate.  The  rest  of  the  men  were  in  their  daily 
garb.  There  were  only  about  a  dozen  muskets  among  them, 
mostly  with  old  flint  locks.  The  rest  of  the  armament  con- 
sisted of  spears  and  scythes  fastened  straight  on  poles.  As 
a  commissioner  of  the  provisional  government,  I  was  dis- 
tinguished by  a  tri-colored  sash  and  a  sword;  I  also  carried 
a  pistol  in  my  belt,  but  without  cartridges.  Thus  equipped 
we  marched  across  the  country  to  the*village  in  which  the 
treasonable  priest  carried  on  his  mischievous  activity.  Within 
sight  of  the  village  we  halted,  and  there  being  nobody  among 
my  men  who  was  acquainted  with  the  whereabouts,  I  sent 
three  of  them,  without  arms,  ahead  to  reconnoiter  the  location 
of  the  parsonage.  Two  of  them  should  remain  there  after 
having  discovered  it,  and  the  third  was  to  return  to  serve  the 
expedition  as  a  guide. 

When  I  marched  into  the  village  at  the  head  of  my  arma- 
ment I  found  the  streets  a  picture  of  profound  peace.  It  was 
a  beautiful  summer  afternoon ;  the  male  inhabitants,  agri- 
culturists, were  working  in  the  fields;  only  a  few  old  people 
and  little  children  were  to  be  seen  at  the  doors  of  the  houses 
or  at  the  windows,  looking  at  the  strange  procession  with 
stolid  astonishment.  I  must  confess  that  I  appeared  to  myself 
for  the  moment  somewhat  comical,  but  my  official  duty  left  me 
no  choice.  The  parsonage  was  promptly  surrounded  by  part 
of  my  force,  so  that  my  culprit  should  not  slip  away 
through   a   back   door;   the   main   body   was    drawn   up   in 

[  192  ] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
front  of  the  house  on  the  street.  I  knocked  at  the  door 
and  found  myself  soon  in  a  plain  but  very  comfortably 
furnished  room  with  the  priest  before  me.  He  was  a  young 
man,  perhaps  thirty-five  years  old;  a  robust  figure  and  a 
well-formed  head,  with  lively  penetrating  eyes.  I  tried  to  as- 
sume a  severe  martial  attitude,  and  acquainted  him  at  once, 
in  short  words,  with  my  charge,  put  my  hand  upon  his  shoulder, 
as  was  customary  in  making  an  arrest,  and  called  him  my 
prisoner.  To  my  astonishment  he  broke  out  in  a  merry  laugh, 
which  seemed  quite  genuine. 

"You  want  to  arrest  me,"  he  exclaimed;  "that  is  nice. 
You  are  evidently  a  university  student.  I  have  been  the  same, 
and  understand  this  sort  of  thing;  the  whole  story  is  only  a 
joke.  Drink  a  bottle^of  wine  with  me."  Thereupon  he  opened 
the  door  of  the  room  and  called  to  a  servant  to  bring  wine. 

I  did  not  like  to  be  at  once  discovered  as  a  university  stu- 
dent, and  resented  that  my  mien  of  official  authority  should 
not  impress  him.  So  I  said  in  as  severe  a  tone  as  possible, 
"  Reverend  sir,  this  is  not  a  joke.  You  have  hindered  in  your 
parish  the  organization  of  the  army;  such  treasonable  conduct 
cannot  be  permitted  by  the  provisional  government.  In  the 
name  of  that  provisional  government  I  have  arrested  you.  You 
must  follow  me;  do  not  hesitate  to  obey.  Your  house  is  sur- 
rounded by  soldiers ;  do  not  oblige  me  to  use  force !  " 

"  Force!  We  will  see  about  that!  "  he  exclaimed,  and  in 
his  eyes  there  gleamed  something  like  anger  and  defiance,  but 
he  controlled  himself,  and  continued  in  a  serious  but  quiet 
tone:  "  There  cannot  be  so  much  hurry  about  this  that  you 
may  not  listen  to  a  word  from  me.  Here  is  the  girl  with  the 
wine,  and  if  I  must  follow  you,  permit  me  at  least  to  drink  a 
glass  with  you,  to  your  health.  It  is  true  I  have  warned  my 
poor  peasant  boys  not  to  enter  the  army  and  to  expose  them- 

[193] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
selves  to  be  shot  for  nothing.  You  yourself  do  not  think  that 
this  insane  revolt  can  succeed ;  in  a  few  days  the  Prussians  will 
chase  your  provisional  government  across  the  Rhine.  Where- 
fore then  this  nonsense  which  may  cost  many  people  their 
lives?  "  With  this  he  pulled  the  cork  out  of  the  bottle  and 
filled  two  glasses.  I  had  no  time  to  consider  whether,  thirsty 
as  I  was,  I  should  drink  with  my  prisoner,  when  I  heard  the 
bell  on  the  church  steeple  near  by  give  a  violent  signal  of 
alarm.  This  could  be  nothing  else  than  a  tocsin;  it  seemed 
that  the  peasants  had  somehow  or  other  been  informed  of  the 
danger  threatening  their  priest,  and  as  if  this  church  bell 
summoned  them  to  his  protection.  The  priest  seemed  to  under- 
stand the  situation  clearly;  a  sly  smile  flew  across  his  face.    , 

"  How  many  men  have  you  outside?  "  he  asked. 

"  Enough,"  I  answered. 

I  opened  the  window  and  saw  crowds  of  peasants  hurry- 
ing on  from  all  sides  with  flails  and  pitch- forks  and  bludgeons. 
My  men  were  still  standing  in  line  on  the  street ;  some  of  them 
seemed  to  look  around  with  anxiety  at  the  villagers  rushing 
upon  the  scene.  I  ordered  the  lieutenant  to  post  my  men  with 
their  backs  against  the  house  and  to  let  nobody  in;  in  case  of 
an  attack  he  should  defend  the  door  to  the  utmost  of  his  ability. 
I  directed  him  to  give  the  same  orders  to  the  men  who  watched 
the  back  door  of  the  parsonage.  The  multitudes  in  front  of 
the  house  grew  larger  and  larger.  Threatening  exclamations 
were  heard;  evidently  the  situation  was  becoming  complicated. 
Whether  the  handful  of  my  volunteers  could  resist  that  big 
crowd  of  fanatic  peasants   appeared  very  questionable. 

The  priest  still  smiled.  "  My  parishioners  will  defend  me 
with  their  lives.  It  looks  to  me  as  if  your  armed  force  were  in 
their  power." 

Then  a  happy  thought  shot  across  my  mind. 

[194] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 

"  In  any  case,  you,  Herr  Pastor,  are  in  my  power,"  I  an- 
swered, drawing  my  pistol  from  my  belt  and  cocking  it.  The 
priest  would  have  continued  to  smile  if  he  had  known  that  the 
pistol  was  not  loaded.  He  evidently  thought  it  was  a  danger- 
ous weapon,  and  his  smile  disappeared  suddenly. 

"  What  do  you  want?  "  he  asked. 

"  I  want  you,"  I  said  with  a  show  of  coolness  which, 
however,  I  did  not  really  feel ;  "  I  want  you  to  step  at  once  to 
this  window  and  to  admonish  your  peasants  to  return  to  their 
homes  without  delay.  You  will  add  that  you  have  affairs 
with  the  provisional  government  in  the  interest  of  your  parish- 
ioners; that  you  will  go  to  the  city  in  the  company  of  your 
friend  here — that  means  me — to  transact  that  business,  and  that 
these  armed  volunteers  have  come  to  protect  you  on  the  way 
against  all  danger  and  annoyance.  While  you  make  this  speech 
to  your  peasants  I  stand  with  this  pistol  behind  you.  Do  your 
business  well,  my  friend;  the  provisional  government  will  re- 
member it."  The  priest  looked  at  me  for  a  moment  with  an 
expression  of  surprise,  and  smiled  again,  but  it  was  an  em- 
barrassed smile;  the  pistol  in  my  hand  evidently  did  not  please 
him.  Then  he  rose,  stepped  to  the  window  and  was  received 
by  the  peasants  with  loud  exclamations.  He  commanded 
silence,  and  said  exactly  what  I  had  prescribed  to  him.  He  did 
his  business  finely.  The  peasants  obeyed  without  hesitation, 
and  quiet  reigned  again  in  the  streets.  The  priest  and  I  then 
emptied  our  bottle  of  wine  with  all  comfort.  At  dusk  we  left 
the  house  by  the  back  door  and  wandered  together  toward  the 
city  like  two  old  friends  in  merry  conversation,  my  armed 
escort  a  hundred  paces  behind  us.  On  the  way  I  toyed  with 
my  pistol,  throwing  it  into  the  air  and  catching  it  again  with 
my  hand. 

"  Take  care,"  said  the  priest,  "  the  pistol  might  go  off." 

[195] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 

"Impossible,  Herr  Pastor,"  I  answered;  "it  is  not 
loaded." 

"  What!  "  he  exclaimed,  "  not  loaded?  " 

We  looked  at  one  another  and  broke  out  into  loud 
laughter. 

I  reported  to  the  provisional  government  how  the  priest 
had  helped  me  and  my  people  out  of  a  very  precarious  situa- 
tion, and  he  was  very  kindly  treated  and  allowed  to  return 
home  forthwith.  The  provisional  government  had  indeed 
much  more  important  things  to  think  of. 

The  attack  which  the  merry  Pfaelzers — at  least  many  of 
them — had  so  long  deemed  improbable  now  really  came.  On 
the  12th  of  June  a  body  of  Prussian  troops  crossed  the  fron- 
tier. If  the  curses  which  those  otherwise  so  good-natured  people 
hurled  against  those  Prussians  had  all  been  cannon  balls,  the 
Prussian  troops  could  hardly  have  stood  up  against  them;  but 
the  real  fighting  force  at  the  disposal  of  the  provisional  gov- 
ernment was  so  insignificant  and  so  ill-equipped  and  undis- 
ciplined that  an  effective  defense  of  the  country  was  not 
possible.  It  was  therefore  necessary  to  avoid  an  encounter 
with  the  Prussians,  and  so  it  happened  that  the  first  military 
operation  in  which  I  participated  consisted  in  a  retreat.  A 
few  days  before  this  my  chief,  Lieutenant  Colonel  Anneke, 
had  instructed  me  to  be  ready  to  march  at  any  moment,  which 
I  did  not  find  difficult,  because  my  baggage  was  extremely 
scant.  I  was  given  a  horse,  a  fine  bay,  and  as  I  had  never 
learned  to  ride,  my  commander  sent  me  to  a  riding  school, 
where  the  master  ordered  me  to  mount  the  animal,  explaining 
to  me  in  a  few  words  what  I  was  to  do  with  my  legs  and  my 
hands  to  guide  my  mount;  whereupon  he  struck  him  with 
a  smart  cut  of  his  whip,  and  I  had  to  keep  my  seat  as  well  as 
I  could  on  my  prancing  steed.  After  this  had  gone  on  for  an 

[196] 


CARL    SCHURZ    AS    A    STUDENT 


^        OF  THE     °> 

UNIVERSITY 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
hour  or  so  the  master  dismissed  me,  saying :  "  The  next  lesson 
you  will  get  on  the  march."  He  was  right;  the  constant  exer- 
cise in  active  service  gave  me  a  pretty  firm  seat. 

The  sudden  necessity  of  retreating  considerably  in- 
creased the  general  confusion.  There  was  no  end  of  or- 
ders and  revocations  of  orders  until  we  finally  got  started. 
I  think  it  was  in  the  night  from  the  13th  to  the  14th  of 
June.  With  our  artillery  we  had,  indeed,  no  great  diffi- 
culty, inasmuch  as  it  consisted  of  very  few  pieces.  At  two 
o'clock  in  the  night  we  mounted  our  horses  and  were  off.  A 
night  march  is  almost  always  a  miserable  affair,  especially 
a  night  march  in  retreat.  Yet  I  must  confess  that  the  dull 
rumble  of  the  wheels  on  the  road,  the  rustle  of  the  march- 
ing columns,  the  low  snorting  of  the  horses,  and  the  rattling 
of  the  sabers  and  scabbards  in  the  darkness,  affected  me  as 
something  especially  romantic.  In  the  appreciation  of  this  I 
found  sympathetic  response  with  the  wife  of  my  chief,  Ma- 
thilda Franciska  Anneke,  a  young  woman  of  noble  charac- 
ter, beauty,  vivacity,  and  fiery  patriotism,  who  accompanied 
her  husband  on  this  march.  I  remember  well  our  common 
pleasure,  when  in  that  night  we  passed  by  a  tavern  on  the  road- 
side, where  some  of  the  men,  bearded  fellows  with  black  hats 
covered  with  plumes,  and  fantastically  ornamented  blouses, 
their  rifles  hung  over  their  shoulders,  in  the  feeble  flicker  of  a 
lamp  crowded  around  the  woman  of  the  hostelry,  who  poured 
wine  for  them.  The  picture  might  have  been  a  scene  of  Schil- 
ler's "  Robbers."  The  majority  of  our  men  not  being  uni- 
formed, every  soldier  dressed  more  or  less  according  to  his 
fancy,  and  this  gave  tempting  scope  to  individual  taste.  Many 
of  the  men  evidently  endeavored  to  look  very  wild  and  terrible, 
which  they  would  have  done  had  their  faces  not  been  so  strik- 
ingly good-natured. 

[197] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
About  sunrise  after  this  first  night's  march  we  found 
ourselves  in  a  deep  gorge  between  precipitous  ledges,  near  a 
place  called  Frankenstein,  where  we  took  a  defensive  posi- 
tion across  the  road  to  Neustadt.  A  cold  morning  brings,  under 
such  circumstances,  a  feeling  of  truly  unromantic  sober-mind- 
edness with  it,  and  I  then  learned  that  a  hot  cup  of  coffee,  ever 
so  thin,  and  a  piece  of  dry  bread,  belong  to  the  great  benefac- 
tions of  life.  The  Prussians,  however,  did  not  press  us,  and 
we  remained  undisturbed  in  our  bivouac  near  Frankenstein 
during  the  entire  day.  On  the  15th  and  16th  of  June  the 
troops  of  the  Palatinate  were  drawn  together  near  Neustadt- 
an-der-Hardt. 

In  this  rich  country  the  population  of  the  villages  mani- 
fested their  friendly  sentiments  toward  us  by  putting  large 
pails  filled  with  wine  in  the  doors  of  their  houses,  so 
that  the  passing  troops  might  refresh  themselves.  There  I 
saw  for  the  first  time  the  leader  of  a  considerable  corps, 
Colonel  Blenker,  who  twelve  years  later,  during  the  Civil 
War  in  the  United  States,  attracted  much  attention  as  a  bri- 
gade commander.  He  was  an  excellent  horseman,  and  as  he  ap- 
peared splendidly  accoutered  at  the  head  of  his  staff,  he  pre- 
sented a  stately  and  imposing  figure.  The  spectacle  of  several 
well-armed  battalions  revived,  to  some  extent,  the  courage  of 
our  troops,  which  had  been  somewhat  dampened  by  the  retreat, 
and  here  and  there  arose  the  cry  that  now  the  confounded 
Prussians  might  come  on;  but  the  retreat  was  continued  and 
the  Palatinate  abandoned  without  the  striking  of  a  blow. 
About  the  19th  of  June,  1849,  some  seven  or  eight  thousand 
strong,  we  crossed  the  Rhine  into  Baden  territory  and  marched 
toward  Karlsruhe,  the  capital  of  the  grand  duchy. 

Our  entry  into  that  neat  little  city  created  among  the  in- 
habitants a  sensation  which  was  by  no  means  flattering  to  the 

[198] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
troops  of  the  Palatinate.  The  Karlsruhe  burghers,  who  had 
been  accustomed  to  the  trim  appearance  of  .the  grand  duke's 
soldiers,  did  not  seem  to  relish  the  picturesque  and  romantic 
appearance  of  our  Palatinate  fighters  for  liberty,  but  were 
rather  inclined  to  close  their  doors  and  shutters  as  though 
feeling  the  necessity  of  protecting  themselves  against  the 
inroad  of  a  band  of  robbers.  At  any  rate,  the  faces  of 
many  of  the  people  who  stood  on  the  streets  watching  our 
entering  columns  bore  the  unmistakable  expression  of  anx- 
ious expectancy.  We  consoled  ourselves  with  the  thought, 
and  gave  that  thought  very  vigorous  utterance,  that  the 
population  of  this  little  capital  consisted  mainly  of  cour- 
tiers, high  and  low,  and  of  government  officials,  and  that  at 
the  bottom  of  their  hearts  they  hated  the  revolution  and  wished 
the  grand  duke  to  return,  although  many  of  them  had,  since 
his  flight,  talked  like  republicans.  The  wish  of  the  people  of 
Karlsruhe  to  get  rid  of  their  neighbors  from  the  Palatinate, 
was  so  great  that  our  troops  were  not  even  given  sufficient  op- 
portunity to  prove  to  those  timid  souls  what  honest  and  peace- 
loving  beings  were  concealed  under  those  wild  beards,  those  red 
plumes,  and  those  belts  stocked  full  of  daggers  and  dirks.  On 
the  same  day  a  camp  was  assigned  to  us  outside  of  the  city, 
and  on  the  20th  of  June  we  marched  northward  to  the  aid  of 
the  revolutionary  army  of  Baden,  which  in  the  meantime  had 
got  into  a  critical  situation. 

The  army  of  Baden  had  defended  the  northern  frontier 
of  the  grand  duchy  against  General  Peuker,  commander  of  a 
corps  formed  of  regular  Wiirtemberg  arid  Hessen  troops.  Just 
at  the  time  when  the  hostilities  broke  out,  the  Badish  army 
also  received  its  Pole,  General  Mieroslawski,  as  commander- 
in-chief.  He  was  still  a  young  man,  and  had  shown  much  ability 
as  well  as  bravery  in  the  last  Polish  uprising,  but  he  possessed 

[199] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
no  knowledge  of  local  conditions,  and  was  ignorant  of  the 
German  language.  However,  he  was  vastly  preferable  to  old 
Sznayde.  On  the  20th  of  June  the  Prussian  corps  passed  the 
Rhine  from  the  Palatinate  near  Philipsburg,  and  so  got  into 
the  rear  of  the  Badish  army.  With  a  rapid  movement  Miero- 
slawski  turned  against  these  Prussians,  checked  them  by  a  bold 
attack  near  Waghaeusel,  and  then  executed  a  clever  flank 
march  by  which  he  passed  between  the  Prussian  troops  and 
those  of  General  Peuker,  and  opened  communication  with  the 
corps  of  the  Palatinate  and  the  reserves  which  approached  from 
the  south  of  Baden.  The  engagement  at  Waghaeusel  was  by 
no  means  discreditable  to  the  Badish  troops.  We  could  hear 
the  roar  of  the  guns  as  we  marched  northward  by  way  of 
Bruchsal,  and  soon  rumors  began  to  circulate  among  us  of  a 
great  victory  won  by  our  people  over  the  Prussians.  But  then 
later  news  came  that  Mieroslawski  was  retreating  along  the 
Wiirtemberg  frontier  and  that  we  had  to  cover  his  flank. 
This  did  not  much  disturb  our  belief  that  the  battle  of 
Waghaeusel  had  really  been  a  victory,  the  fruits  of  which, 
however,  as  was  said,  were  lost  through  the  treachery  of  the 
colonel  of  the  dragoons,  who  was  ordered  to  pursue  the  beaten 
enemy.  On  the  23d  of  June  we  advanced  to  Ubstadt  and 
there  we  received  the  report  that  the  next  morning  we  would 
have  to  meet  the  Prussian  vanguard.  The  orders  which  I  re- 
ceived from  my  chief  kept  me  busy  on  horseback  until  night, 
and  it  was  late  when  I  reached  my  quarters  in  the  tavern  at 
Ubstadt.  My  chief  had  already  gone  to  rest.  Upon  all  sides  I 
heard  the  snoring  of  sleepers.  Only  the  daughter  of  our  host, 
a  buxom  young  maiden  of  resolute  expression  of  face,  seemed 
to  be  at  work.  I  asked  her  for  a  bed  and  something  to  eat,  and 
both  requests  were  granted  by  her  with  a  robust  outbreak  of 
her  feelings  against  the  "  accursed  Prussians,"  who  had  nothing 

[200] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
to  do  in  the  Badish  land,  and  whom  we  should  send  home  on  the 
morrow  with  a  sound  thrashing.  Now  I  expected  within 
myself  the  solemn  "  emotions  on  the  eve  of  battle  "  of  which 
here  and  there  I  had  read.  But  no  emotions  came ;  I  fell  asleep 
as  soon  as  I  had  stretched  myself  out. 

Neither  did  those  emotions  come  the  next  morning,  "  on 
the  morning  of  the  battle."  It  almost  appeared  to  me  as  if 
overmuch  had  been  imagined  about  such  emotions.  In  later 
life  I  have  gathered  the  experience  that  indeed  they  will 
occur,  but  only  on  exceptional  occasions.  Ordinarily  the 
thoughts  of  the  soldier  on  the  morning  before  the  battle  turn 
to  things  of  a  very  practical  nature,  among  which  breakfast 
occupies  an  important  place.  So  it  happened  to  me  on  that 
morning  at  Ubstadt.  At  an  early  hour  we  were  in  the  saddle, 
and  soon  we  saw  at  a  little  distance  in  our  front  some  cavalry- 
men who  approached  at  a  moderate  pace.  This  signified  that 
the  Prussians  had  deployed  one  or  more  squadrons  of  uhlans  as 
skirmishers  who  would  be  followed  by  infantry  and  artillery 
to  make  an  attack.  The  uhlans  disappeared  after  having  fired 
a  few  shots  from  their  carbines,  and  then  began  a  lively  rattle 
of  infantry  fire.  Soon  cannon  were  posted  on  both  sides  and 
the  balls  flew  to  and  fro  with  their  peculiar  rushing  sound, 
without,  however,  doing  much  damage.  At  first  my  attention 
was  occupied  entirely  by  orders  which  I  had  to  transmit  or 
to  execute,  but  after  our  artillery  had  been  placed,  and 
we  sat  quietly  on  our  horses  in  the  immediate  neighbor- 
hood of  the  battery,  I  had  leisure  to  become  conscious 
of  my  thoughts  and  feelings.  Then  I  experienced  another 
disappointment.  For  the  first  time  I  was  "  under  fire."  I 
cannot  say  that  I  was  entirely  calm;  my  nerves  were  in  an 
unaccustomed  stir:  but  that  stir  was  not  fear,  nor  was  it  the 
heroic  joy  of  battle,  of  which  I  had  read  so  much,  for  I  was 

[201] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
obliged  to  stand  still.  As  the  Prussian  guns  directed  their  fire 
upon  our  artillery  position,  their  balls  flew  one  after  another 
immediately  over  our  heads.  At  first  I  felt  a  strong  inclination 
when  I  heard  the  noise  right  above  me,  to  duck ;  but  it  occurred 
to  me  that  this  was  unbecoming  an  officer,  and  then  I  remained 
straight  upright  in  my  saddle.  I  also  forced  myself  not  to 
quiver  when  a  musket  bullet  whizzed  close  by  my  ear.  The 
wounded  men  who  were  carried  past  excited  my  warm  sym- 
pathy; but  the  thought  that  the  same  might  happen  to  me  the 
next  moment  did  not  occur  to  me  at  all.  When  my  chief 
afterwards  sent  me  again  with  orders  hither  and  thither,  all 
the  reflections  ceased  and  I  thought  of  nothing  but  the  things 
I  had  to  do,  and  of  the  course  of  the  action  as  I  could  observe 
it.  In  short,  I  felt  little  or  nothing  of  those  stormy,  irrepres- 
sible agitations  which  I  had  imagined  to  be  inseparable  from  a 
battle,  but  the  experience  convinced  me  that  under  similar 
circumstances  I  should  always  be  likely  to  retain  my  presence 
of  mind. 

The  engagement  at  Ubstadt  was  a  comparatively  small 
affair,  with  no  purpose  on  our  side  but  to  retard  the  advance 
of  the  enemy  until  the  Badish  army  could  have  reformed  in 
our  rear,  and  then  slowly  to  fall  back  upon  its  position.  At 
Ubstadt  this  instruction  was  carried  out  in  a  comparatively 
orderly  manner.  That  such  things  cannot  be  done  as  perfectly 
with  hastily  organized  and  indifferently  disciplined  volunteers 
as  with  well-schooled  regular  troops  is  a  matter  of  course. 
The  next  day  we  had  a  more  considerable  engagement  with  the 
Prussian  vanguard  near  Bruchsal,  which  again  ended  in  a  re- 
treat on  our  part.  As  frequently  happens  in  popular  upris- 
ings, excited  people  are  apt  to  ascribe  the  failure  of  their 
enterprise  to  the  treachery  of  this  or  that  leader;  and  on  this 
occasion  the  cry  was  raised  against  poor  General  Sznayde. 

[  202  ] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
On  the  retreat  he  was  suddenly  surrounded  by  a  band  of 
mutineers  and  dragged  from  his  horse.  He  then  disappeared 
from  the  scene  of  action,  and  the  troops  of  the  Palatinate  were 
put  under  the  immediate  orders  of  the  Badish  commander. 

On  the  line  of  the  Murg  River,  the  left  wing  leaning  on 
the  fortress  of  Rastatt,  the  united  corps  of  the  revolutionists 
of  Baden  and  of  the  Palatinate  fought  their  last  defensive 
fight  on  the  28th,  29th  and  30th  of  June,  1849,  in  part 
very  gallantly,  although  without  success.  On  the  evening 
of  June  30  Lieutenant  Colonel  Anneke  sent  me  with  an 
instruction  concerning  artillery  ammunition  into  the  fortress 
of  Rastatt,  where  I  was  to  wait  for  him  in  a  certain 
fortification  from  which  we  could  observe  a  large  part  of 
the  battlefield.  There  he  would  call  for  me,  he  said.  I  dis- 
charged my  order  and  then  went  to  the  place  indicated  by 
my  chief,  tied  my  horse  to  a  gun  carriage  and  sat  down  on 
the  rampart,  where  after  having  watched  the  fight  outside  for 
a  little  while  I  fell  asleep  from  sheer  fatigue  in  spite  of  the 
roaring  of  the  cannon.  When  I  awoke  the  sun  was  about  to 
set.  I  inquired  among  the  artillerymen  standing  around  for 
Colonel  Anneke,  but  nobody  had  seen  him.  I  became  restless 
and  mounted  my  horse  to  look  for  my  chief  outside  of 
the  town.  When  I  arrived  at  the  gate  the  officer  on  duty 
informed  me  that  I  could  not  get  out;  that  our  army  was 
pressed  back  toward  the  south,  and  that  the  fortress  was  com- 
pletely surrounded  by  the  Prussians.  I  galloped  to  the  head- 
quarters of  the  commander  of  the  fortress  and  received  there 
the  confirmation  of  what  I  had  heard.  The  prospect  of  re- 
maining in  the  city  with  Prussians  all  around,  and  this  not  in 
obedience  to  orders,  but  by  mere  accident,  struck  me  as  ex- 
ceedingly undesirable.  I  could  not  resign  myself  to  it,  and 
inquired  again  and  again  whether  there  was  no  way  out,  until 

[203] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
at  last  an  officer  standing  near  the  gate  said:  "  I  feel  just  as 
you  do.  I  do  not  belong  here  and  have  tried  all  possible  points 
where  I  thought  I  might  slip  through,  but  all  in  vain.  We 
have  to  submit  and  remain."  Of  Anneke  I  found  no  trace. 
He  had  either  left  the  city  or  perhaps  had  not  been  in  it  all. 

Having  given  up  all  hope  of  escape,  I  reported  myself 
to  the  Governor  of  the  fortress,  Colonel  Tiedemann.  He  was 
a  tall,  slender  man,  with  fine,  regular  features,  and  a  bold, 
resolute  expression  of  face.  As  the  son  of  a  privy  counselor, 
a  far-famed  professor  of  medicine  in  Heidelberg,  he  had  re- 
ceived a  good  education.  In  early  youth  his  inclination  led  him 
into  the  army,  and  he  followed  to  Athens  the  Bavarian  Prince 
Otto,  who  became  the  first  king  of  Greece.  The  revolution  in 
Baden  found  him  at  home,  and  the  provisional  government 
entrusted  to  him  the  command  of  the  fortress  of  Rastatt. 
He  received  me  kindly,  listened  to  my  report,  and  attached  me 
to  .his  staff.  As  to  my  duties,  I  was  to  report  to  him  the  next 
morning.  I  received  quarters  in  the  house  of  a  confectioner 
by  the  name  of  Nusser.  My  host  and  his  wife,  very  kind  and 
well-mannered  people,  welcomed  me  heartily  and  put  at  my 
disposal  a  pleasant  room  and  a  seat  at  their  table.  Also  my 
servant,  Adam,  a  young  soldier  from  the  Palatinate,  who  for- 
tunately had  followed  me  into  the  fortress,  found  shelter  in 
the  house. 

All  this  looked  cheerful  enough.  But  when  my  host  and 
Adam  had  left  me  alone  and  I  could,  in  the  silence  of  my 
chamber,  think  over  the  new  situation,  my  heart  became 
heavy.  That  our  cause,  unless  a  miracle  happened,  was  lost,  I 
could  no  longer  conceal  from  myself;  and  what  kind  of  a 
miracle  it  might  be,  my  hopeful  imagination  failed  to  guess. 
Could  it  be  the  passing  over  of  the  Prussian  Landwehr  to 
the  revolutionary  army?  That  would  have  been  possible  at  the 

[  204  ] 


i 

;o£  LIBft> 


OF  Tl 


UNIVERSITY 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
beginning  of  the  campaign,  if  at  all.  Now,  after  a  series  of 
defeats  that  possibility  had  disappeared.  Could  it  be  a  great 
victory  of  our  troops  in  the  highlands  of  Baden?  Not  to  be 
thought  of,  as  the  retreat  of  our  forces  from  the  Murg  River 
must  have  weakened  them  more  by  the  inevitable  demoraliza- 
tion than  they  could  have  been  strengthened  by  reinforce- 
ments from  other  parts  of  the  country.  Could  it  be  a  great 
victory  of  the  Hungarians  in  the  East?  But  the  Hungarians 
were  far  away  and  the  Russians  were  marching  upon  them. 
Could  it  be  a  new  uprising  of  the  people  in  Germany?  But 
the  revolutionary  impulse  was  evidently  exhausted.  Here  we 
were  shut  up  in  a  fortress  surrounded  by  the  Prussians.  A 
stubborn  defense  of  the  fortress  could  serve  our  cause,  only 
in  so  much  as  it  might  prove  that  a  popular  army  could 
also  possess  courage  and  maintain  its  military  honor.  But 
under  all  circumstances  the  fortress  could  resist  only  a  very 
limited  time.  And  then?  Capitulation.  And  then?  We  would 
fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Prussians.  The  supreme  commander 
of  the  Prussian  troops  in  Baden  was  "  The  Prince  of  Prus- 
sia," in  whom,  at  that  time,  nobody  would  have,  recog- 
nized the  afterwards  so  popular  Kaiser  Wilhelm  I.  At  that 
period  the  prince  was  regarded  as  the  worst  enemy  of  all 
movements  for  freedom.  The  generally  credited  rumor  that 
it  was  he  who  on  the  18th  of  March,  1848,  in  Berlin,  had  given 
the  order  to  fire  upon  the  people  had  earned  for  him,  with  the 
people,  the  title  of  the  "  Grapeshot  Prince."  The  excitement 
of  the  masses  against  him  during  those  days  of  March  was  in 
fact  so  violent  that  the  king  thought  it  best  to  send  him  away 
to  England  for  some  time,  and  this  journey  was  carried  out  in 
a  manner  which  looked  very  much  like  flight.  That  in  the  year 
1849  when  the  imperial  crown  was  offered  to  his  brother. 
Frederick  William  IV.,  he  belonged  to  those  who  advised 

[205] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
a  favorable  consideration  of  that  offer,  and  that  if  he 
instead  of  his  brother  had  been  king  of  Prussia,  the  crisis 
might  have  taken  a  turn  much  more  propitious  to  the  realiza- 
tion of  German  unity,  was  at  that  time  not  yet  known;  nor 
would  it  have  found  much  belief,  for  the  prince  of  Prussia 
was  then  generally  thought  to  be  an  honest  and  inflexible 
absolutist,  who  candidly  and  firmly  believed  that  kings  were 
ordained  by  God  and  had  to  render  account  only  to  God;  that 
the  people  must  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  business  of  the 
government ;  that  resistance  to  the  kingly  power  was  equivalent 
to  a  direct  offense  against  God  Himself,  and  that  it  was  an  im- 
portant duty  of  those  in  power  to  impose  upon  such  a  crime  the 
heaviest  possible  penalty.  So  in  the  minds  of  the  people  the 
prince  appeared  as  a  fanatical  soldier  to  whom  the  Prus- 
sian army  was  a  very  idol;  who  saw  in  it  the  "  sword  of  God," 
the  bulwark  of  the  order  of  the  universe;  in  whose  eyes  the 
Prussian  subject  that  fought  against  the  Prussian  army  com- 
mitted an  unpardonable  crime  not  less  accursed  than  patricide 
itself,  and  from  whom  such  a  criminal  could  expect  no  grace. 
We  natives  of  Prussia,  therefore,  if  we  fell  into  the  hands  of 
that  prince,  had  the  best  possible  prospects  of  being  con- 
demned to  death  by  a  drumhead  court-martial  and  of  being 
shot.  With  these  dismal  thoughts  I  went  to  bed.  Neverthe- 
less I  slept  soundly  and  awoke  long  after  sunrise. 

The  duties  assigned  to  me  by  the  governor  were  not  oner- 
ous. I  had  to  spend  certain  hours  on  the  highest  gallery  of  the 
tower  of  the  castle,  armed  with  a  telescope,  to  observe  the 
enemy  and  to  make  report  of  what  I  might  see.  Then  I  had, 
periodically,  to  visit  certain  bastions  and  gates,  and  to  inspect 
certain  watches,  and  in  addition  to  do  such  other  things  as  the 
governor  might  see  proper  to  entrust  to  me.  To  fit  me  for 
that  duty  I  donned  the  uniform  of  a  regular  infantry  lieuten- 

[206] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
ant  of  the  Badish  army,  which  transformed  me  into  a  respecta- 
ble-looking officer  and  gave  me  a  sort  of  military  consciousness 
which  until  then  I  had  not  possessed. 

Colonel  Tiedemann  succeeded  in  maintaining  among  the 
garrison — which  was  composed  partly  of  regular  Badish 
soldiers  and  partly  of  volunteers — pretty  good  discipline. 
Only  once,  as  far  as  I  can  remember,  I  witnessed  a  serious 
breach  of  order.  Some  soldiers  thought  they  had  detected 
a  spy,  and  soon  a  furious  crowd  rushed  after  the  poor 
fellow,  who  tried  to  save  himself  by  flight,  but  who  succumbed 
after  a  few  steps  to  the  saber  thrusts  and  stones  hurled  at  him. 
It  was  all  the  work  of  a  moment.  The  officers  who  accidentally 
were  near,  among  them  myself,  succeeded,  after  a  while,  in 
quieting  the  soldier  mob,  but  we  were  unable  to  save  the 
victim.  We  had  also  other  excitements. 

One  morning,  shortly  after  break  of  day,  I  was  awakened 
by  a  violent  explosion  on  the  street  immediately  under  my 
window.  As  I  jumped  out  of  bed  the  thought  struck  me  that 
the  Prussians  might,  during  the  night,  have  penetrated  into 
the  city,  and  that  there  was  now  a  street  fight  going  on.  A 
second  explosion,  immediately  above  the  house,  and  the  rat- 
tling noise  of  heavy  objects  falling  upon  the  roof,  taught 
me  that  the  fortress  was  being  bombarded,  and  that  a  shell  had 
knocked  down  the  chimney  of  my  house.  One  explosion  came 
after  another,  and  the  guns  of  our  fortress  boomed  in  response. 
I  hurried  as  quickly  as  possible  to  headquarter  in  the  castle  and 
there  I  beheld  a  heartrending  spectacle.  The  court  of  the 
castle  was  crowded  with  citizens,  among  them  many  women 
and  children  who  had  fled  out  of  their  houses  and  instinctively 
sought  in  the  vicinity  of  the  commander,  protection  against 
the  threatening  catastrophe.  Most  of  the  grown-up  people, 
and  even  some  of  the  children,  carried  beds  or  boxes  and  all 

[207] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
other  house  belongings  on  their  heads  or  under  their  arms. 
As  often  as  a  shell  rushed  over  the  castle  yard  or  exploded  in 
the  vicinity,  the  poor  people,  overcome  by  terror,  threw  down 
all  they  were  carrying  and  ran  toward  shelter,  screaming  and 
wringing  their  hands.  Then  a  moment  of  silence  would  inter- 
vene and  they  picked  up  their  goods  and  chattels  from  the 
ground ;  but  as  soon  as  another  shell  came  along  the  same  scene 
repeated  itself.  We  staff  officers  had  our  hands  full  in  trying  to 
quiet  the  people,  and  as  far  as  possible  to  place  them  in  safety 
in  the  bomb-proof  casemates  of  the  fortress.  Meantime  the 
church-bells  began  to  peal  and  a  multitude — women  with 
their  children,  and  not  a  few  men — ran  across  the  market-place 
to  the  church,  where,  with  loud  lamentations,  they  prayed  God 
to  save  them. 

The  bombardment,  however,  was  not  very  serious.  It 
lasted  only  a  few  hours,  and  did  very  little  damage.  A  few 
fires  caused  by  it  were  speedily  extinguished.  The  Prussians 
probably  intended  only  to  let  us  know  that  the  surrender  of 
the  fortress  must  not  be  too  long  delayed,  if  we  would  avoid 
greater  discomfort.  Thus  we  were  bombarded  only  with  field 
pieces  and  a  few  mortars.  The  heavy  siege  guns  were  to  be 
brought  on  if  it  should  be  necessary  to  compel  surrender 
by  extreme  means.  The  governor  preferred,  however,  for  the 
time  being,  to  continue  defense,  and  the  next  day  a  sortie  was 
undertaken  to  drive  away  the  battery  that  had  annoyed  us. 
The  officer  who  commanded  that  sortie  afterwards  reported 
that  the  mortars  had  been  taken  and  spiked  by  our  men. 

Beyond  this  nothing  of  great  importance  happened. 
With  the  higher  officers  of  the  garrison  I  came  into  contact 
as  a  member  of  the  staff,  but  as  I  was  still  a  very  young  man 
our  intercourse  was  not  intimate.  The  principal  figures  that  I 
remember  were  Colonel  Biedenfeld,  a  stiff  old  soldier  who  had 

[208] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
been  an  officer  in  the  regular  army  of  Baden;  Colonel 
Bohning,  a  white-haired,  venerable-looking  free  corps  com- 
mander; Major  Heilig,  the  chief  of  artillery,  about  six  and  a 
half  feet  in  height,  a  kindly  and  very  popular  officer;  Lieuten- 
ant Colonel  Otto  von  Corvin,  a  strikingly  handsome  young 
soldier,  who  had  been  a  lieutenant  in  the  Prussian  army,  and 
who,  if  I  remember  rightly,  like  myself,  had  remained  in  the 
fortress  accidentally;  and  Major  Mahler,  a  former  lieutenant 
in  the  regular  army  of  Baden,  a  young,  gay  infantry  officer 
who,  many  years  afterwards,  fought  for  the  Union  under  my 
command  as  a  Colonel  of  the  Seventy-fifth  Pennsylvania,  and 
who  was  killed  at  Gettysburg. 

The  duty  which  most  interested  me  was  that  of  the  look- 
out, from  the  height  of  the  castle  tower.  From  there  I  had  a 
magnificent  view — toward  the  east  the  mountains  in  which 
Baden-Baden  is  nestled;  toward  the  north  the  smiling 
Rhine  valley  with  its  rich  fields  and  vineyards,  its  shady 
forests  and  the  church  steeples  of  many  villages  hidden 
among  the  fruit  trees;  toward  the  south  the  Black  Forest; 
to  the  west  Alsatia  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Rhine, 
with  far-away  blue  mountain  lines.  How  beautiful  was  all 
this!  How  benevolent  Nature  in  her  rich,  lavish  goodness! 
And  over  there,  in  these  apparently  peaceful  surroundings, 
lay  "The  Enemy,"  who  had  us  firmly  in  his  grasp.  There  I 
saw  the  outposts  regularly  relieved,  and  the  patrols  of  horse- 
men busily  moving  to  and  fro,  keeping  a  sharp  eye  upon  us 
so  that  not  a  soul  of  us  should  escape  them.  There  I  saw  the 
batteries  of  the  enemy  ready  to  hurl  destruction  and  death  at 
us.  There  I  saw  their  camps  teeming  with  human  beings, 
many  of  whom,  aye,  perhaps  a  large  majority,  thought  as  we 
thought  and  desired  what  we  desired — possibly  among  them 
children  of  neighbors  in  my  native  village — and  yet,  all  pre- 

[209] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
pared  at  the  command  of  their  superiors,  to  fire  the  deadly 
bullet  into  our  breasts.  And  over  all  this  there  streamed  down 
in  those  summer  days  the  beautiful  sunlight  of  heaven,  so 
warm  and  so  peaceably  radiant,  as  if  there  were  nothing  but 
harmony  and  happiness  in  the  world.  All  this  so  cruelly 
unnatural,  and  yet  so  cruelly  true! 

A  strange  life  that  was  in  the  besieged  fortress.  With 
the  exception  of  one  sortie,  there  being  no  further  fighting  ex- 
citement, we  soldiers  did  our  routine  service  day  after  day 
with  mechanical  precision,  and  the  burghers  pursued  what 
occupation  there  still  remained  to  them,  all  in  a  state  of 
strained  expectation,  waiting  for  the  fate  that  could  not  be 
averted.  The  world  outside  lay  far,  far  away  from  us  in  un- 
measurable  distance.  There  we  sat  within  our  ramparts,  ex- 
cluded from  all  humanity,  as  if  we  did  not  belong  to  it.  Not 
a  sound  of  it  penetrated  to  us  except  a  distant  rolling  of  the 
drum  or  the  trumpet  signals  of  the  enemy  besieging  us.  From 
time  to  time  mysterious  rumors  arose,  of  which  nobody  knew 
whence  they  came.  Our  troops,  it  was  once  said,  had  won  a 
great  victory  in  the  upper  country  and  driven  the  Prussians 
before  them.  Then  a  fresh  revolution  had  broken  out  in 
France,  and  all  Germany  was  in  new  commotion.  Then  the 
Hungarians  had  disastrously  defeated  the  united  Austrians 
and  Russians,  and  were  ready  to  send  their  victorious  legions  to 
the  aid  of  the  German  revolutionists.  Once  the  higher  officers 
of  the  garrison  rushed  up  to  me  on  the  observation  tower  be- 
cause somebody  had  actually  heard,  in  the  direction  of  the 
upper  country,  a  long  continuing  thunder  of  cannon,  con- 
stantly approaching;  and  now  they  had  come  to  see  the 
clouds  of  dust  raised  by  the  columns  advancing  to  our  relief. 
But  the  imagined  thunder  of  artillery  was  inaudible  to  us ;  all 
remained  still,  and  we  sank  back  into  our  dull  hopelessness, 

[210] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
Sometimes  we  tried  to  amuse  ourselves  with  frolics  in  the 
wine  houses — for  the  town  was  still  well  provided  with  wine. 
Then  there  was  occasionally  an  effort  at  gayety,  but  it 
was  little  more  than  an  effort,  for  everybody  knew  that  be- 
hind his  chair  stood  the  dark  specter  of  the  inevitable  catas- 
trophe. 

Suddenly  one  day — it  was  in  the  third  week  of  the  siege — 
a  Prussian  officer,  under  a  flag  of  truce,  came  into  the  fortress 
with  a  summons  to  surrender,  bringing  the  news  that  the  revo- 
lutionary army  had  crossed  the  Swiss  frontier,  and  had 
therefore  ceased  to  exist;  that  not  a  single  armed  insur- 
gent remained  on  German  soil,  and  that  the  Prussian  com- 
mander would  consent  to  permit  any  man  whom  the  garrison 
of  Rastatt  would  entrust  with  such  a  mission,  to  convince  him- 
self of  these  facts  with  his  own  eyes,  and  to  this  end  they  would 
give  him  safe  conduct  wherever  he  might  wish  to  go.  This 
caused  tremendous  excitement.  At  once  the  governor  called 
a  general  council  of  war,  which,  if  I  remember  rightly,  con- 
sisted of  all  officers  of  the  garrison  from  captain  upward.  The 
council  met  promptly  in  the  great  hall  of  the  castle.  After  a 
stormy  discussion  it  was  resolved  that  the  offer  of  the  Prus- 
sian commander  should  be  accepted,  and  Lieutenant  Colonel 
Corvin  received  the  commission  to  explore  the  condition  of 
things  outside;  and  in  case  he  found  it  to  be  as  the  Prussian 
flag  of  truce  had  represented,  to  negotiate  for  a  capitulation 
on  conditions  as  favorable  as  could  be  obtained. 

The  hall  in  the  castle  in  which  that  council  of  war  was 
held,  had  been,  during  the  siege,  always  accessible  to  me,  and 
one  of  the  big  lounges,  upholstered  with  yellow  silk  damask, 
had  been  my  accustomed  resting  place  when  I  returned  from 
my  observations  on  the  castle  tower,  or  from  my  rounds 
through  the  fortress.  I  had  selected  this  sofa  because  from  it 

[ail] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
I  had  an  especially  good  view  of  a  fresco  on  the  ceiling  which 
had  a  peculiar  charm  for  me.  It  was  an  allegorical  group,  in 
which  probably  some  ancestor  of  the  grand  ducal  family  of 
Baden  was  portrayed  in  the  shape  of  Jupiter,  or  Mars,  or 
Apollo.  The  subject  of  the  picture  did  not  attract  me.  But  I 
found  therein  the  face  of  some  goddess  which  reminded  me 
vividly  of  Betty,  and  when  I  looked  up  from  my  sofa  the  eyes 
of  Betty  looked  kindly  down  upon  me.  No  wonder,  therefore, 
that  I  loved  to  rest  upon  this  spot  and  that  I  indulged  myself 
in  all  sorts  of  waking  dreams,  forgetting  my  dismal  situation, 
until  my  eyes  closed  in  sleep. 

On  the  second  morning  after  Corvin's  departure,  in 
the  gray  dawn  I  lay  down  upon  the  sofa  for  a  short 
rest.  Soon  I  was  awakened  by  the  noise  of  heavy  steps,  rat- 
tling sabers  and  a  confusion  of  voices.  From  what  I  saw 
and  heard  I  concluded  that  Corvin  had  returned  from  his 
mission  and  that  the  great  council  of  war  was  reassembling. 
The  governor  entered,  demanded  silence  and  asked  Corvin, 
who  stood  at  his  side,  to  make  his  report  orally  to  the  whole 
assembly.  Corvin  then  told  iis  that,  accompanied  by  a  Prus- 
sian officer,  he  had  traveled  down  to  the  Swiss  frontier  and 
had  convinced  himself  on  the  spot  that  no  revolutionary  force 
was  left  in  Baden,  the  revolutionary  army  having  crossed  into 
Switzerland,  surrendered  its  arms,  and  dissolved.  He  had  also 
satisfied  himself  from  the  newspapers,  that  in  the  rest  of  Ger- 
many there  was  not  the  slightest  vestige  of  a  revolutionary 
movement.  Everywhere  submission  and  quiet.  The  Hun- 
garians, too,  had  suffered  decisive  defeats  in  consequence 
of  the  Russian  intervention  and  would  undoubtedly  soon  suc- 
cumb. In  short,  the  garrison  of  Rastatt  was  entirely  forsaken, 
and  could  not  hope  for  any  relief ;  and  finally,  Corvin  added, 
he  had  been  informed  at  Prussian  headquarters  that  the  com- 

[212] 


A    PRUSSIAN    OFFICER,    UNDER    A    FLAG    OF    TRUCE 

SURRENDER  " 


WITH    A    SUMMONS    TO 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
mander  of  the  besieging  army  would  insist  upon  a  surren- 
der of  the  fortress  at  discretion,  without  conditions  of  any 
kind. 

Deep  silence  followed  this  speech.  Every  one  of  the  hear- 
ers felt  that  Corvin  had  told  the  truth.  Finally,  somebody — I 
do  not  remember  who — asked  to  be  allowed  to  put  some  ques- 
tions. Then  there  was  a  confusion  of  voices  in  which  some  hot- 
heads talked  of  "  dying  to  the  last  man  " ;  whereupon  the 
governor  gave  the  floor  to  a  former  Prussian  soldier, 
who  had  become  an  officer  in  the  forces  of  the  Palatinate. 
This  officer  said  that  he  was  as  ready  as  anyone  to  sacrifice 
to  our  cause  his  last  drop  of  blood,  and  that  those  of  us 
who  were  Prussians,  when  they  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  be- 
sieging army,  would  have  to  die  in  any  case.  Nevertheless 
he  advised  the  immediate  surrender  of  the  fortress.  If  we  did 
not  surrender  to-day,  we  would  be  obliged  to  do  it  to-morrow. 
We  ought  not  to  expose  the  citizens  of  the  town,  with  their 
wives  and  children,  to  famine,  or  to  another  bombardment,  and 
all  in  vain.  It  was  time  to  make  an  end,  whatever  might  hap- 
pen to  us  personally.  A  murmur  swept  through  the  hall  ap- 
proving this  advice,  and  then  it  was  resolved  that  Corvin 
should  try  once  more  to  secure,  at  the  Prussian  headquarters, 
for  the  officers  and  men  of  our  garrison  as  favorable  condi- 
tions as  possible.  But  if  after  a  reasonable  effort  he  saw  the 
impossibility  of  obtaining  such  conditions,  he  should  agree 
with  the  Prussian  headquarters  upon  the  necessary  arrange- 
ments for  a  surrender  at  discretion.  When  we  left  the  hall 
most  of  us  undoubtedly  felt  that  nothing  else  could  be  hoped 
for. 

That  afternoon  I  mounted  once  more  my  tower  of  obser- 
vation upon  which  I  had  spent  so  many  watchful  and  dreamy 
hours.  The  magnificent  landscape  lay  before  me  in  the  beauti- 

[213] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
ful  sunshine.  It  appeared  to  me  even  more  beautiful  than 
ever.  I  felt  as  if  I  must  take  a  last  leave  of  it. 

"  We  Prussians  will  probably  have  to  die  in  any  case." 
These  words  echoed  in  my  ear,  and  I  was  convinced  of  their 
truth.  To  these  Prussians  I  belonged.  I  remember  vividly 
the  thoughts  which  then  on  that  tower  of  observation  went 
through  my  head.  One  recollection  forced  itself  again  and 
again  upon  my  mind,  how  a  few  years  before  my  father  had, 
with  me,  visited  Professor  Ptitz  in  Cologne;  how  the  pro- 
fessor had  put  his  hand  upon  my  shoulder  and  smilingly  said 
to  my  father,  "  A  hopeful  boy  " ;  and  how  proudly  then  my 
father  had  nodded  his  head  and  looked  at  me.  "  Of  that 
hopeful  boy  there  is  now  an  end,"  I  said  to  myself.  Many 
of  the  bold  dreams  of  a  great  and  fruitful  activity  which 
I  had  formerly  cherished  recurred  to  me,  and  it  seemed 
hard,  very  hard,  to  depart  from  the  world  before  I  had  been 
permitted  to  render  it  any  worthy  service.  A  sensation  of  pro- 
found sorrow  came  over  me,  not  on  account  of  myself  alone, 
but  also  on  account  of  my  parents  who  had  expected  so  much 
of  me,  to  whom  I  was  to  be  the  support  of  old  age,  and  who 
now  saw  all  their  hopes  shattered  and  destroyed  forever. 
Finally,  nothing  remained  to  me  but  the  determination  if  I 
was  so  to  end,  to  look  my  fate  in  the  eyes  with  courage  and 
dignity. 

I  remained  on  the  gallery  of  the  observation  tower  until 
the  sun  was  down.  Then  I  descended  and  reported  myself  to 
the  governor,  whether  he  still  had  orders  for  the  night.  "  To- 
night," he  said,  "  every  one  of  my  officers  ought  to  be  on  the 
ramparts.  I  apprehend  that  the  men  know  that  we  shall  sur- 
render to-morrow,  and  will  leave  their  posts.  That  should  not 
be."  I  was  glad  to  have  something  to  do  that  would  occupy 
my  thoughts.  In  the  fortifications  and  in  the  town  there  was 

[214] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
now  a  great  deal  of  noise  and  confusion.  Many  of  the  men  re- 
garded it  as  superfluous  to  take  further  care  of  the  service; 
it  would  be  all  over  anyhow  the  next  day.  There  was  also 
much  hubbub  in  the  wine  houses,  when  the  soldiers  would  have 
have  their  last  cup  together.  But  the  admonitions  addressed 
by  the  officers  to  the  men  who  were  running  about  or  drinking 
did  not  find  any  vicious  resistance.  The  number  of  those  who 
still  continued  to  do  their  duty  was  sufficient  to  maintain  tol- 
erable order. 

Toward  daybreak  I  stretched  myself  once  more  on  my 
accustomed  sofa,  and  after  several  hours  of  profound  sleep 
woke  up  with  the  thought,  "  To-day  you  will  be  taken  by  the 
Prussians,  to  be  shot  dead."  Then  I  went  to  headquarters, 
where  I  learned  that  Corvin  had  not  succeeded  in  nego- 
tiating any  conditions,  and  that  the  surrender  at  discretion 
was  a  certain  thing.  At  twelve  o'clock  noon  the  troops  were  to 
march  through  the  gates  to  lay  down  their  arms  between  two 
lines  of  Prussians  outside  on  the  glacis  of  the  fortress. 
The  orders  had  already  been  issued.  I  went  to  my  quarters 
to  write  a  last  letter  to  my  parents.  I  thanked  them  for  all 
the  love  and  care  they  had  devoted  to  me,  and  asked  them  to 
forgive  me  if  I  had  disappointed  their  hopes.  I  told  them  that 
following  my  honest  convictions  I  had  taken  up  arms  for  a 
cause  that  I  believed  to  be  right,  for  the  liberty  and  unity  of 
the  German  people,  and  if  it  should  be  my  lot  to  die  for  that 
cause,  it  would  be  an  honorable  death  of  which  they  would 
never  have  reason  to  be  ashamed.  This  letter  I  put  into  the 
hands  of  good  Mr.  Nusser,  my  host,  who,  with  tears  in  his  eyes, 
promised  to  put  it  into  the  mail  as  soon  as  communications 
should  be  opened  again.  In  the  meanwhile  the  hour  of  noon 
approached.  Already  I  heard  the  signals  calling  the  troops  on 
the  ramparts  and  in  the  barracks  to  the  rally,  and  I  prepared 

[215] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
myself  to  go  up  to  headquarters.  Then  a  new  idea  suddenly 
flashed  through  my  head.  I  remembered  that  only  a  few  days 
previously  my  attention  had  been  attracted  to  a  subterranean 
sewer  for  the  waters  of  the  street  gutters  which,  near  the 
Steinmauerner  gate,  led  from  the  interior  of  the  city,  under  the 
fortifications,  into  an  open  field  outside.  This  sewer  was  prob- 
ably a  part  of  an  uncompleted  drainage  system.  The  entrance  to 
it  in  the  interior  of  the  city  was  situated  in  a  trench  near  a  gar- 
den hedge.  Outside  it  emptied  into  a  ditch  overgrown  with 
shrubbery,  which  bordered  a  corn  field.  When  these  circum- 
stances had  first  come  to  my  knowledge,  it  had  occurred  to  me 
that  if  the  opening  as  well  as  the  exit  of  that  sewer  were  not  well 
watched,  spies  might  easily  pass  through  it  from  the  outside 
into  the  town.  I  had  reported  the  matter  to  the  governor,  but 
immediately  afterwards  came  the  negotiations  with  the  enemy, 
the  mission  of  Corvin,  and  the  excitement  about  the  impend- 
ing capitulation,  which  drove  the  affair  of  the  sewer  out  of  my 
mind. 

Now  at  the  last  moment  before  the  surrender  the  re- 
membrance came  back  to  me  like  a  ray  of  light.  Would  it  not 
be  possible  for  me  to  escape  through  that  sewer?  Would  it  not, 
if  I  thus  gained  the  open  in  this  way,  be  possible  in  some  man- 
ner to  reach  the  Rhine,  there  to  procure  a  boat  and  to  cross 
the  river  to  the  French  side?  My  resolution  was  promptly 
taken — I  would  at  least  try. 

I  called  my  servant,  who  had  prepared  my  belongings  for 
the  surrender.  "  Adam,"  I  said,  "  you  are  a  Palatinate  man,  a 
volunteer.  I  believe  if  you  surrender  to  the  Prussians  you  will 
soon  be  sent  home.  I  am  a  Prussian,  and  us  Prussians  they 
will  probably  shoot  dead.  I  will  therefore  try  to  escape,  and  I 
know  a  way.  Let  us  therefore  say  good-bye." 

"  No,  Herr  Lieutenant,"  Adam  exclaimed,  "  I  shall  not 

[216] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
leave  you.  Where  you  go,  I  go."  The  eyes  of  the  good  boy 
sparkled  with  pleasure. 

"  But,"  said  I,  "  you  have  nothing  to  gain,  and  we  shall 
probably  have  to  incur  great  dangers." 

"  Danger  or  no  danger,"  replied  Adam,  with  decision,  "  I 
remain  with  you." 

At  this  moment  I  saw  an  artillery  officer  of  the  name  of 
Neustadter,  whom  I  knew  well,  pass  by  my  window.  He,  like 
myself,  was  born  in  Rhenish  Prussia,  and  had  formerly  served 
in  the  Prussian  artillery. 

"Where  are  you  going,  Neustadter? "  I  called  to  him 
through  the  window. 

"  To  join  my  battery,"  he  answered.  "  We  are  to  surren- 
der in  half  an  hour." 

"  The  Prussians  will  shoot  you  dead,"  I  replied;  "  go  with 
me  and  let  us  try  to  escape." 

He  stopped,  came  into  the  house  and  listened  to  my  plan, 
which  I  explained  to  him  in  a  few  words. 

"  Good,"  he  said;  "  I  will  go  with  you." 

There  was  now  no  time  to  be  lost.  Adam  was  sent  out  to 
purchase  a  loaf  of  bread,  two  bottles  of  wine  and  some 
sausages.  Then  we  put  our  pistols  under  our  clothes,  and 
rolled  up  our  cloaks.  In  mine,  a  large  dark  cape  lined  with 
scarlet,  received  recently  from  our  stores,  I  wrapped  up  a 
short  carbine  which  I  possessed.  The  bottles  and  the  eatables 
which  Adam  had  bought  were  packed  up  as  well  as  we  knew 
how.  In  the  meantime  the  garrison  began  to  march  in  close 
columns  across  the  market-place.  We  followed  the  last  column 
a.  short  distance,  and  then  turning  into  a  side  lane  soon  reached 
the  inner  mouth  of  our  sewer.  Without  hesitation  we  slipped 
into  it.  It  was  between  one  and  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of 
the  23d  of  July. 

[217] 


*         OFT-' 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
The  sewer  was  a  tube  of  brick  masonry,  sufficiently  high 
and  wide  for  us  to  move  through  it  with  bent  knees  and 
curved  backs,  half  walking,  half  crawling.  The  water  run- 
ning through  the  sewer  covered  our  feet  and  ankles.  As  we 
penetrated  into  the  interior  we  found,  here  and  there,  narrow 
manholes  covered  on  top  with  iron  gratings,  through  which 
air  and,  during  the  day,  some  light  came  down.  At  such  places 
we  rested  a  moment  and  stretched  ourselves  out  so  as  to  get 
our  spines  into  shape  again.  According  to  our  calculation  we 
should  have  reached  about  the  middle  of  the  sewer,  when  I 
happened  to  strike  my  foot  against  a  piece  of  board  lying  in 
the  water,  which  was  just  long  enough  to  be  squeezed  between 
the  walls  of  the  sewer  so  that  it  served  us  as  a  sort  of  bench  to 
sit  upon.  Upon  this  bench,  which  made  our  condition  a  little 
more  comfortable,  we  huddled  together  for  a  longer  rest. 

Until  then  the  constant  movement  to  which  we  had  been 
compelled  had  hardly  permitted  us  to  survey  our  situation. 
Now,  sitting  on  the  bench,  we  had  leisure  enough  to  collect  our 
thoughts  and  to  hold  council  as  to  what  was  further  to  be  done. 
During  the  siege  I  had  had  frequent  opportunity  to  observe 
the  immediate  surroundings  of  the  fortress,  and  I  therefore 
pretty  well  knew  the  ground  on  which  the  sewer  emptied  out- 
side. I  proposed  to  my  companions  that  we  should  remain  on 
the  bench  until  about  midnight,  then  leave  the  sewer,  and  seek 
cover  in  a  field  planted  with  corn,  which  I  knew  to  be  in  the 
neighborhood.  From  there  we  could,  if  the  sky  was  tolerably 
clear,  overlook  a  little  part  of  the  road  to  Steinmauern,  a  village 
distant  about  an  hour's  walk  from  Rastatt,  on  the  bank  of  the 
Rhine,  and  assure  ourselves  whether  we  might  leave  the  protec- 
tion of  the  cornfield  without  danger.  And  so,  seeking  cover 
from  time  to  time  in  order  to  reconnoiter  the  road  ahead  of  us, 
we  might  hope  before  daybreak  to  reach  Steinmauern  and  there 

[218] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
to  find  a  boat  that  might  carry  us  to  the  French  side  of  the 
river.    This  plan  was  approved  by  my  companions. 

While  we  were  thus  engaged  in  taking  counsel,  we  heard 
above  us  a  dull,  rumbling  noise  as  from  the  wheels  of  vehicles 
and  the  heavy  tread  of  great  masses  of  men,  from  which  we 
concluded  that  the  Prussians  were  now  entering  the  fortress 
and  occupying  the  gates  and  the  ramparts.  We  also  heard  the 
striking  of  a  church  clock  which  gave  the  hour,  our  bench 
being  near  one  of  the  manholes,  so  that  the  sounds  of  the  up- 
per world  reached  us  without  much  difficulty.  About  nine 
o'clock  in  the  evening  it  began  to  rain  so  heavily  that  we  could 
clearly  hear  the  splashing  of  the  water  as  it  poured  down.  At 
first  it  seemed  to  us  that  the  bad  weather  would  be  favorable 
to  our  plan  of  escape.  But  before  long  the  matter  appeared 
in  a  different  light.  We  felt  that  the  water  was  rising  in  our 
sewer,  and  soon  it  began  to  shoot  through  it  with  great  ve- 
hemence like  a  mountain  stream.  After  a  while  it  flooded  the 
bench  upon  which  we  were  sitting  and  reached  up  to  our 
chests.  We  also  perceived  living  creatures  which  suddenly, 
with  great  activity,  rushed  and  crawled  around  us.  They  were 
undoubtedly  rats.  "  We  have  to  get  out,"  I  said  to  my  com- 
panions, "  or  we  shall  be  drowned."  We  left  our  bench  and 
pushed  forward.  I  had  hardly  advanced  a  few  steps  when  in 
the  darkness  I  ran  my  head  against  a  hard  object.  I  touched 
it  with  my  hands  and  discovered  that  the  obstacle  was  an  iron 
railing.  At  once  the  thought  came  to  me  that  this  railing  had 
been  put  there  for  the  purpose  of  cutting  off,  in  time  of  siege, 
communication  through  the  sewer  between  the  interior  of  the 
town  and  the  outside.  This  thought,  which  I  communicated 
at  once  to  my  companions,  brought  us  almost  to  despair.  But 
when  I  grasped  the  railing  with  both  hands,  as  a  prisoner  may 
sometimes  shake  the  iron  rods  of  his  dungeon  window,  I  no- 

[219] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
ticed  that  it  could  be  moved  a  little,  and  a  further  examination 
proved  that  it  did  not  reach  quite  down  to  the  bottom,  but  left 
a  free  space  of  about  two  feet.  It  was  probably  so  arranged 
that  it  could  be  pulled  up  or  let  down,  so  that  the  sewer  might 
be  opened  for  purposes  of  cleaning  and  then  shut  again.  For- 
tunately, nobody  had,  during  the  seige,  known  anything  of  this 
railing,  and  thus  the  possibility  of  escape  still  remained  open 
to  us. 

Now,  in  order  to  slip  through  the  low  aperture  under  it 
we  were  obliged  to  crawl  with  our  whole  bodies  through  the 
water;  but  that  circumstance,  although  disagreeable,  did  not 
disturb  us.  We  pushed  vigorously  on,  and  when  we  believed 
ourselves  to  be  near  the  outward  opening  of  the  sewer,  we 
stopped  a  minute  to  gather  strength  and  presence  of  mind  for 
the  dangerous  moment  of  our  issuing  forth  from  our  conceal- 
ment. 

Then  a  terrible  sound  struck  our  ears.  Close  ahead  of  us, 
distant  only  a  few  paces,  we  heard  a  voice  call,  "  Who  goes 
there?"  and  at  once  another  voice  answered,  "  Good  friend." 
We  stood  still  as  if  struck  by  lightning.  In  a  short  time  we 
heard  the  same  calls  repeat  themselves  at  a  somewhat  greater 
distance,  and  again  and  again.  It  was  clear  that  we  were  close 
to  the  opening  of  the  sewer,  that  outside  there  was  a  dense 
chain  of  Prussian  guard  posts,  and  that  just  then  a  patrol  or 
round  had  been  passing  along  that  chain.  Softly  I  ventured  a 
step  or  two  further  on.  Really,  there  was  the  mouth  of  the 
sewer  overgrown  with  brush  so  thick  that  I  stood  in  darkness 
almost  as  dense  as  was  that  in  the  interior  of  the  canal.  But 
when  I  raised  myself  up  a  little  I  could  distinctly  perceive  the 
dark  figures  of  a  Prussian  double  sentinel  immediately  before 
me,  as  well  as  some  camp  fires  at  a  short  distance.  Had  we 
been  able  to  get  into  the  open  without  being  noticed,  which 

[  220  ] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
seemed  almost  impossible,  still  the  road  to  Steinmauern  was 
evidently  closed  to  us. 

Softly  as  we  had  come  we  crawled  back  into  our  sewer  and 
sought  safety  there,  at  least  for  the  moment.  Fortunately  the 
rain  had  ceased.  The  water  was,  indeed,  still  high,  but  it  did 
not  rise  any  more.  "  Back  to  our  bench,"  I  whispered  to  my 
companions.  We  crawled  again  under  the  railing  and  found 
our  bit  of  plank.  There  we  sat  close  together.  Our  next  coun- 
cil of  war  had  a  certain  solemnity  about  it.  There  were  few 
words,  but  a  good  deal  of  thinking.  It  was  clear,  we  could  not 
venture  into  the  open.  To  remain  a  longer  time  in  the  sewer 
was  not  to  be  thought  of,  because  there  was  the  danger  that  if 
it  rained  again  we  might  be  drowned.  There  was  therefore 
nothing  to  be  done  but  to  go  back  into  the  town.  But  how 
could  we  go  back  into  the  town  without  falling  into  the  hands 
of  the  Prussians?  After  we  had  exchanged  these  thoughts  in 
a  whisper,  a  long  pause  followed.  At  last  I  interrupted  the 
silence,  saying,  "Let  us  eat  and  drink  a  little;  good  counsel 
may  come  then."  Adam  unpacked  our  provisions,  and  as  we 
had  eaten  nothing  since  breakfast  time  of  the  preceding  day — 
midnight  was  now  long  past — hunger  and  thirst  were  keen. 
Our  bread  was,  indeed,  quite  wet,  but  it  tasted  good;  also  the 
sausages.  We  remembered,  in  time,  that  we  must  not  consume 
our  whole  store,  for  we  did  not  know  when  and  where  we 
should  get  the  next  meal.  Moreover,  we  were  more  troubled 
by  thirst  than  by  hunger,  as  is  always  the  case  under  such  cir- 
cumstances. For  nearly  twelve  hours  our  feet  had  been  in  the 
water,  and  were  therefore  as  cold  as  ice.  This  had  driven  the 
blood  to  our  heads.  Adam  now  opened  one  of  the  two  bottles 
which  he  had  bought  for  us,  and  we  discovered  that  they  con- 
tained rum  instead  of  wine.  Although  rum  had  always  been 
repugnant  to  me,  still  I  drank  like  my  companions,  in  eager 

[221  ] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
draughts,    and   my   brain    remained    entirely    clear    in   spite 
of  it.   . 

After  we  had  finished  our  meal  Adam  took  the  floor.  "  I 
have  a  widowed  cousin  in  the  town,"  he  said.  "  Her  house  is 
not  far  from  the  entrance  to  the  sewer.  To  reach  it  we  have 
only  to  go  through  a  kitchen  garden  or  two.  We  might  hide 
ourselves  there  in  the  barn  until  we  find  something  better." 

This  proposition  had  our  approval,  and  we  resolved  to 
make  the  attempt.  At  the  same  moment  something  occurred 
to  me  that  was  depressing  in  the  extreme.  I  remembered  that 
during  the  siege  our  garrison  had  a  sentinel  close  to  the  en- 
trance of  the  sewer.  If  this  post  was  occupied  by  the  Prussians 
too,  then  we  sat  in  the  sewer  between  two  Prussian  guards.  I 
communicated  my  apprehension  to  my  companions.  But  what 
was  to  be  done?  Possibly  the  Prussians  had  not  occupied  that 
post.  Perhaps  we  might  slip  by.  In  any  case,  nothing  else 
remained  to  us  than  to  make  the  attempt. 

When  we  left  our  bench  to  begin  our  retreat,  we  heard 
the  church  clock  outside  strike  three.  I  went  ahead  and  soon 
reached  the  last  manhole.  I  availed  myself  of  the  opportunity 
to  stretch  myself  out  a  little,  when  something  happened  that 
at  the  first  moment  appeared  very  unfortunate.  I  had  used 
my  short  carbine  in  moving  through  the  canal  in  a  bent  posi- 
tion, as  a  sort  of  crutch.  When  I  lifted  myself  up  the  carbine 
fell  from  my  arm  into  the  water  and  caused  a  loud  splash. 
"Hello!"  cried  a  voice  just  above  me.  "Hello!  There  is 
something  in  this  hole;  come  here."  At  the  same  moment  a  bayo- 
net descended  like  a  probe  through  the  grating  which  covered 
the  manhole.  I  heard  it  strike  against  the  iron  rods  in  time  to 
duck  myself  and  thus  avoid  being  touched  by  it.  "  Now  out 
quickly!"  I  whispered  to  my  companions,  "or  we  are  lost." 
With  a  few  hasty  paces  we  reached  the  end  of  the  sewer, 

[222] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
Without  looking  around  we  jumped  over  a  hedge  into  the 
nearest  kitchen  garden,  and  gained,  with  a  rapid  run,  a  second 
hedge,  which  we  cleared  in  the  same  way.  Then  we  halted, 
breathless  under  cover  01  some  shrubs,  to  listen  whether  any- 
body was  following  us.  We  heard  nothing.  It  is  probable 
that  the  falling  of  my  carbine  into  the  water  attracted  the  at- 
tention of  the  guard  post  in  the  immediate  vicinity,  and  di- 
verted it  from  the  mouth  of  the  sewer.  Thus  our  escape  may 
have  been  facilitated  by  the  accident,  which  at  first  seemed  so 
unfortunate. 

When  Adam  looked  around  from  our  halting  place  he 
found  that  we  were  close  by  the  house  of  his  cousin.  We  leaped 
another  hedge  which  separated  us  from  the  kitchen  garden 
belonging  to  that  house,  but  there  we  were  greeted  by  the  loud 
barking  of  a  dog.  To  pacify  the  animal  we  sacrificed  the  last 
remnant  of  our  sausages.  Finding  the  door  of  the  barn  open, 
we  entered  it,  stretched  ourselves  out  on  a  pile  of  hay,  and  soon 
fell  into  a  profound  sleep. 

But  this  rest  was  not  to  last  long.  I  awoke  suddenly  and 
heard  the  church  clock  strike  six.  Adam  had  already  risen  and 
said  he  would  now  go  into  the  house  to  ask  his  cousin  what  she 
could  do  for  us.  After  a  few  minutes  he  returned  and  the 
cousin  with  him.  I  still  see  her  before  me — a  woman  of  about 
thirty  years,  with  a  pale  face  and  wide-open,  anxious  eyes. 
"  For  God's  sake,"  she  said,  "  what  are  you  doing  here?  You 
cannot  remain.  This  morning  some  Prussian  cavalrymen  will 
be  quartered  here,  and  they  will  surely  look  in  the  barn  for 
litter  for  their  horses.  Then  they  will  find  you  and  we  shall  all 
be  lost." 

"  But  be  reasonable,  cousin,"  said  Adam;  "  where  can  we 
go  now?  You  certainly  will  not  deliver  us  up." 

But  the  poor  woman  was  beside  herself  with  fear.  "  If 

[223] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
you  do  not  go,"  she  replied,  with  decision,  "  I  must  tell  the 
soldiers  that  you  are  here.  You  cannot  expect  me  to  sacrifice 
myself  and  my  children  for  you." 

There  was  more  talk,  but  all  in  vain.  We  had  no  choice; 
we  must  leave  the  barn.  But  where  to  go?  The  woman  showed 
us  through  the  open  door  a  ditch  covered  with  high  and  thick 
shrubbery  on  the  other  side  of  the  little  yard,  in  which  we  might 
hide  ourselves.  Our  situation  became  desperate.  There  we 
stood,  all  three  in  the  military  uniform  of  Baden,  easily  recog- 
nizable as  the  soldiers  of  the  revolutionary  army.  Now  we  were 
to  have  no  other  refuge  but  some  shrubbery  covering  a  ditch 
in  the  midst  of  a  town  teeming  with  hostile  troops!  Of  course, 
we  hesitated  to  leave  the  barn,  although  it  was  a  dangerous 
resting  place  for  us,  but  at  any  rate  it  offered  us  a  roof  over 
our  heads,  and  perhaps  it  might  be  possible  to  find  in  it  some 
hiding  corner.  We  still  hoped  that  Adam's  cousin  would  yield 
to  our  prayers.  She  went  to  the  house,  as  she  had  to  expect 
every  moment  the  arrival  of  the  cavalrymen.  After  about  half 
an  hour  she  came  back  and  said  the  cavalrymen  were  there 
and  were  just  sitting  at  their  breakfast.  Now  was  the  moment 
for  us  to  pass  through  the  yard  without  being  seen  by  them. 
She  insisted  on  this  with  such  determination  that  we  had  to 
submit.  Then  we  ran  across  the  yard  to  the  ditch,  which  on  the 
opposite  side  was  separated  from  the  street  by  a  tall  board 
fence.  It  again  rained  hard,  and  in  the  immediate  vicinity 
nobody  seemed  to  be  stirring.  Thus  we  could,  with  some  assur- 
ance, explore  our  new  refuge.  We  found  that  at  the  end  of 
the  ditch  cord  wood  was  heaped  up  in  the  form  of  a  hollow 
square,  open  on  the  side  toward  us.  We  could  slip  through 
the  brush  into  the  square  and  were  in  that  close  space  pretty 
well  protected  from  the  eyes  of  the  passerby.  There  we  sat 
down  on  blocks  of  wood. 

[224] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
But  what  was  to  become  of  us  now?  The  discomfort  of 
our  miserable  situation,  as  well  as  our  sitting  theje  wet  to  the 
skin,  we  might  easily  have  borne  had  we  had  the  slightest  pros- 
pect of  escape.  My  faithful  Adam,  otherwise  so  good-natured, 
was  much  wrought  up  over  the  conduct  of  his  cousin.  Neu- 
stadter  regarded  our  situation  as  hopeless,  and  asked  whether 
it  was  not  better  to  put  an  end  to  our  distress  by  a  voluntary 
surrender  to  the  soldiers  in  the  house.  I  must  confess  that  my 
sanguine  temperament,  too,  was  severely  tested.  Still  I  gath- 
ered up  courage,  and  we  then  resolved  to  trust  to  luck. 
So  we  sat  there  hour  after  hour  waiting  for  something  to 
turn  up,  with  the  heavy  rain  mercilessly  streaming  down  on 
us,  pictures  of  misery.  About  noon  we  heard  steps  in  the  gar- 
den near  our  place  of  concealment.  Cautiously  I  looked  out 
from  the  open  side  of  our  cord  wood  square,  and  perceived 
coming  from  the  house  a  man  with  a  saw  in  his  hand.  Accord- 
ing to  his  looks  and  the  tool  he  carried  I  concluded  he 
must  be  a  laborer,  and  as  the  laboring  men  throughout  were 
in  favor  of  the  revolutionary  cause,  I  did  not  hesitate  to  con- 
fide myself  to  him.  I  threw  a  little  chip  of  wood  at  the  man, 
which  hit  him  on  the  arm,  and  as  he  stood  still  I  attracted  his 
attention  by  a  low  cough.  He  saw  me  and  came  to  us*  With 
as  few  words  as  possible  I  explained  to  him  our  situation,  and 
begged  him  to  find  us  a  place  of  safety,  and  also  to  procure  for 
us  something  to  eat,  as  our  last  morsel  was  gone.  My  confi- 
dence was  not  misplaced.  He  promised  to  do  what  was  pos- 
sible. Then  he  left,  but  returned  in  half  an  hour,  and  showed 
us  near  by  a  large  open  shed.  At  the  end  of  that  shed  there 
was  a  little  closed  compartment  in  which  the  laborers  probably 
deposited  their  tools,  and  on  top  of  this,  under  the  roof  of  the 
shed,  a  small  loft  enclosed  in  boards.  "  I  will  break  loose  one 
of  these  boards,"  said  our  man.  "  You  can  then  climb  over  the 

[225] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
cord  wood  and  slip  under  the  roof  of  the  loft  and  lie  down 
there.  I  will  soon  come  back  and  bring  you  something  to  eat." 

We  followed  his  advice,  and  succeeded  in  slipping  into 
the  little  loft  without  being  observed.  The  space  we  occupied 
was  just  large  enough  to  permit  us  to  lie  side  by  side  on  our 
backs.  We  lay  in  a  white  dust,  inches  thick,  which  was,  in  view 
of  the  wet  condition  of  our  clothing,  extremely  disagreeable. 
But  at  least  we  felt  secure  for  the  time  being.  It  was  about 
one  o'clock  of  the  afternoon  when  we  crawled  into  our  new 
asylum.  We  waited  quietly  for  our  friend  to  bring  us  the  nec- 
essary food,  and  would  then  consult  with  him  about  a  plan  of 
escape.  But  we  heard  the  church  clock  strike  two,  three,  and 
four,  and  our  man  did  not  return.  Shortly  after  four  o'clock 
a  lively  noise  arose  in  the  shed  below.  From  the  talk  and  the 
shouting  and  the  rumbling  we  heard  we  concluded  that  a 
troop  of  cavalrymen  must  have  arrived,  and  that  they  were 
now  occupied  in  putting  the  shed  in  order  for  their  horses. 
The  horses  came  soon,  and  on  all  sides  soldiers  swarmed  around 
us.  Through  the  chinks  of  the  wooden  wall  of  our  loft  we 
could  easily  see  them.  Our  situation  became  extremely  critical. 
If  it  had  occurred  to  one  of  those  soldiers  to  investigate  the 
compartment  and  to  look  into  the  loft,  it  would  have  been  all 
over  with  us.  Any  kind  of  noise,  a  cough  or  a  sneeze,  would 
have  betrayed  us.  We  took  the  utmost  pains  to  breathe  softly, 
and  longed  for  the  night.  The  night  came  and  we  were  still 
undiscovered,  but  the  man  on  whose  assistance  we  had  counted 
had  not  yet  shown  himself. 

We  began  to  be  very  hungry  and  thirsty,  and  had  neither 
a  bit  of  bread  nor  a  drop  of  water.  What  was  left  of  our  rum 
had  been  lost  on  the  hasty  run  from  the  sewer  to  the  house. 
Now  we  lay  still  like  corpses.  Gradually  it  became  more  quiet 
in  the  shed;  soon  we  heard  heavy  snoring,  and  from  time 

[  226  ] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
to  time  somebody  moving  around,  probably  to  look  after  the 
horses.  We  were  afraid  to  sleep  ourselves,  although  very 
much  exhausted.  But  at  last  we  came  to  a  whispered  agree- 
ment alternately  to  sleep  and  to  lie  awake,  and  to  shake  the 
temporary  sleeper  if  he  breathed  heavily.  So  the  night  passed 
over  and  morning  came,  but  not  the  friend  whom  we  so  long- 
ingly expected.  Noon,  afternoon,  evening,  the  whole  second 
day,  passed,  but  of  our  friend  no  sign.  There  we  lay,  still  and 
stiff,  surrounded  by  hostile  soldiers,  and  the  prospect  of  succor 
growing  less  every  moment.  Thirst  began  to  torture  us.  For- 
tunately the  next  night  it  rained  again.  Above  my  head  there 
was  a  broken  tile  in  the  roof,  and  through  the  hole,  although  it 
was  small,  some  of  the  rain  trickled  down.  I  caught  it  in  the 
hollow  of  my  hand,  and  so  enjoyed  a  refreshing  draught.  My 
companions  followed  my  example.  Again  morning  came,  and 
our  hope  for  the  return  of  our  friend  sank  lower  and  lower. 
The  church  clock  struck  one  hour  after  another,  and  no  aid. 
My  limbs  began  to  ache  from  the  rigid  stiffness  of  our  position, 
and  yet  we  hardly  dared  to  move.  Three  days  and  two  nights 
we  had  been  without  nourishment,  and  an  unwonted  feeling  of 
weakness  set  in.  So  the  third  night  arrived.  All  hope  of  the 
coming  of  our  friend  was  gone.  We  recognized  the  necessity 
of  making  a  new  attempt  at  escape  before  our  strength  had 
entirely  vanished.  We  thought  and  thought,  without  saying  a 
word,  except,  perhaps,  "  He  will  not  come  any  more." 

At  last  I  had  an  idea.  When,  during  the  third  night,  we 
heard  the  soldiers  below  snoring  vigorously,  I  whispered  to  my 
neighbor,  Neustadter,  holding  my  mouth  close  to  his  ear. 
"  Did  you  not,  as  we  clambered  over  the  cord  wood,  notice  a 
little  house  about  fifty  paces  from  here? " 
"  Yes,"  said  Neustadter. 
"There  must  be  a  poor  man  living  there,"  I  continued, 

[227] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
"  probably  a  laborer.  One  of  us  must  go  to  him  and  see  whether 
he  cannot  help  us.  I  should  be  glad  to  go  myself,  but  I  would 
have  to  clamber  over  you  [Neustadter  lay  nearest  to  the  open- 
ing in  the  board  wall],  and  that  might  make  a  noise.  You  are, 
anyhow,  the  lightest  of  us.  Will  you  try?  " 

"  Yes." 

I  had  a  little  money,  for  immediately  before  the  capitu- 
lation we  had  received  our  soldiers'  pay. 

"  Take  my  purse,"  I  whispered,  "  and  give  to  the  man 
who  lives  in  the  little  house  ten  florins,  or  as  much  as  he  asks. 
Tell  him  to  bring  us  some  bread  and  wine,  or  water,  and  to 
inform  himself  as  soon  as  possible  whether  or  not  the  Prussian 
guard  posts  are  still  standing  outside  of  the  fortress.  If  those 
posts  have  been  drawn  in,  we  can  try  to-morrow  night  again 
to  get  through  the  sewer.  Now  go  and  bring  us  a  piece  of 
bread  if  you  can." 

"  Good,"  said  Neustadter. 

In  a  minute,  lightly  and  softly  like  a  cat,  he  had  slipped 
through  the  hole  in  the  board  wall.  My  heart  beat  fast  while 
he  was  gone.  A  false  step,  an  accidental  noise,  would  betray 
him.  But  in  less  than  half  an  hour  he  came  back  just  as  lightly 
and  softly  as  before,  and  lay  down  by  my  side. 

"  It  is  all  right,"  he  whispered;  "  here  is  a  piece  of  bread, 
all  he  had  in  the  house,  and  also  an  apple  that  in  passing  by  I 
picked  from  a  tree,  but  I  am  afraid  it  is  still  green." 

The  bread  and  the  apple  were  soon  divided  among  us, 
and  devoured  with  avidity;  and  then  Neustadter  reported  with 
his  mouth  to  my  ear,  that  he  found  in  the  little  house  a  man 
and  his  wife.  The  man,  to  whom  he  had  given  the  ten  gulden, 
had  promised  to  bring  us  some  food,  and  also  the  desired 
information  about  the  condition  of  things  outside  of  the 
fortress. 

[228] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 

This  refreshed  our  spirits,  and,  much  relieved,  we  slept 
alternately  until  high  morning.  Now  we  expected  with  every 
moment  our  rescuer,  but  one  hour  after  another  passed  and 
he  did  not  come.  Were  we  again  to  be  disappointed?  At  last, 
about  noon,  we  heard  somebody  in  the  compartment  immedi- 
ately below  us  noisily  moving  things  from  one  place  to 
another ;  then  a  low  cough.  The  next  moment  a  head  appeared 
in  the  opening  of  our  board  wall,  and  a  man  climbed  up  to  us. 
It  was  our  new  friend.  He  brought  a  basket  apparently  filled 
with  tools,  but  out  of  the  depth  of  which  he  took  two  bottles 
of  wine,  a  couple  of  sausages  and  a  large  loaf  of  bread. 

"  This  is  something  for  hunger  and  thirst,"  our  friend 
whispered.  "  I  have  been  also  all  around  the  city.  The  Prus- 
sian guard  posts  are  no  longer  outside.  I  shall  be  glad  to  help 
you;  only  tell  me  what  I  am  to  do." 

I  now  asked  him  to  go  to  Steinmauern  and  look  for  a  boat 
which  in  the  coming  night  might  take  us  across  the  Rhine. 
Then,  about  midnight,  to  be  in  the  cornfield  near  the  Stein- 
mauern gate,  outside  of  the  fortress,  and  wait  for  us.  He 
would  hear  the  signal  of  a  whistle ;  this  he  should  answer,  and 
then  join  us  in  order  to  take  us  to  the  boat.  He  should  ask  his 
wife  to  have  something  for  us  to  eat  at  about  eleven  o'clock  of 
the  night. 

I  gave  him  a  little  more  money,  and  he  promised  to  do  all 
I  had  asked,  and  disappeared  again  as  he  had  come.  Now 
we  held  a  royal  feast,  during  which  our  good  humor  made 
it  very  difficult  for  us  to  preserve  the  necessary  silence.  All 
the  longer  appeared  to  us  the  ensuing  hours  that  were  so  full 
of  hope  and  at  the  same  time  of  anxiety.  About  two  o'clock 
we  heard  the  rattling  of  musketry  at  a  distance. 

"What  is  that?"  whispered  Neustadter.  "There,  they 
are  killing  somebody." 

[229] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
So  it  seemed  to  me.  We  took  it  as  an  indication  of  the  lot 
that  would  be  ours  if  we  were  captured.  In  fact,  however,  as 
we  learned  subsequently,  the  executions  began  only  a  few 
days  later.  What  we  had  heard  was  probably  some  shots  fired 
in  cleaning  guns. 

Toward  three  o'clock  a  great  ado  began  in  the  shed  below. 
The  cavalrymen  were  evidently  preparing  for  departure;  but 
they  had  hardly  gone  when  another  troop  took  possession  of 
the  premises.  We  concluded  from  the  conversations  overheard 
that  it  was  a  troop  of  Hussars.  Toward  evening  a  large  crowd 
of  people  seemed  to  gather  below,  and  we  distinguished  among 
them  also  women's  voices.  Then  the  trumpeters  began  to  play 
waltzes  and  the  merry  company  to  dance.  This  was  by  no 
means  disagreeable  to  us,  for  we  expected  that  after  such  a 
frolic,  which  could  scarcely  pass  off  without  some  drink, 
our  Hussars  would  sleep  all  the  better.  But  before  nine  o'clock 
the  crowd  dispersed,  and  all  would  have  been  quiet  had  not 
one  of  the  Hussars  held  back  on  the  spot  a  Rastatt  maiden. 
The  couple  stood  or  sat  immediately  under  our  hiding  place,  and 
we  could  understand  every  word  they  exchanged.  The  conver- 
sation was  of  a  very  sentimental  character.  He  assured  her 
that  she  was  charming;  that  she  had  inflamed  his  heart  when 
she  first  looked  at  him,  and  that  he  loved  her  tenderly.  She  an- 
swered he  should  not  trouble  her  with  his  bad  jests.  But  he 
may  have  observed  that  she  really  did  not  want  to  be  left  un- 
troubled, and  so  he  continued  to  vary  the  theme  in  all  sorts 
of  bold  and  flowery  figures  of  speech.  At  last  she  seemed  to 
be  really  inclined  to  believe  all  he  told  her.  We  should  cer- 
tainly have  laughed  had  we  dared.  But  when  this  otherwise 
interesting  conversation  would  not  come  to  an  end,  I  began 
to  be  a  little  anxious  lest  it  last  until  midnight,  and  so  this 
Hussar  love  might  interfere  seriously  with  our  plans.  I  felt, 

[230] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
therefore,  very  much  relieved  when  finally,  after  ten  o'clock, 
the  wooing  vows  died  away  in  the  distance. 

Now  we  counted  the  minutes  as  the  decisive  moment  ap- 
proached. When  it  struck  eleven  Neustadter  slipped  out  of 
the  opening  in  the  plank  wall,  stepped  upon  the  pile  of  wood, 
and  jumped  lightly  to  the  ground.  I  followed  him.  My  legs 
had  become  very  stiff  in  consequence  of  my  lying  for  days  and 
nights  immovable  on  my  back,  and  as  I  put  my  foot  upon  the 
wood  several  sticks  fell  down  with  a  great  noise.  A  moment 
later  I  heard  not  far  away  the  tread  of  a  patrol.  I  only  had  time 
to  whisper  back  to  my  faithful  Adam  that  he  should  remain 
until  the  patrol  should  have  passed,  and  then  follow  me.  I 
succeeded  in  reaching  the  little  house  before  the  patrol  turned 
the  corner  of  the  lane.  Neustadter  was  already  there,  and 
Adam  came  a  few  minutes  later. 

"  The  patrol  passed  quietly  by,"  said  he,  "  and  they  snored 
so  loud  in  the  shed  that  any  other  noise  would  hardly  have  been 
heard." 

The  wife  of  our  friend  in  the  little  house  had  prepared  a 
precious  repast  of  beef  broth,  with  rice,  for  us.  After  this  and  a 
dish  of  boiled  meat  and  roast  potatoes  had  refreshed  our 
strength,  we  set  out  through  the  garden  for  the  sewer.  The 
moon  was  shining  brightly,  and  we  kept  cautiously  in  the  shad- 
ows of  the  hedges.  But  when  we  arrived  at  the  ditch  close  by  the 
mouth  of  the  sewer  a  new  fright  awaited  us.  A  sentinel  was 
pacing  to  and  fro  just  beyond  the  sewer,  hardly  thirty  feet 
away  from  it.  We  halted  and  stooped  under  the  hedge.  There 
was  but  one  thing  to  do.  As  the  man  turned  his  back  upon  us 
and  walked  to  the  other  side,  one  of  us  was  to  slip  cautiously 
into  the  sewer.  The  two  others  had  to  do  the  same.  In  a  few 
minutes  we  were  reassembled  in  the  darkness  of  our  refuge.  We 
crawled  ahead  and  found  our  old  bench  again,  where  we  rested 

[231] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
a  while.  Then  pursuing  our  way  we  found  the  railing  in  its 
old  place,  dipped  under  it,  and  soon  perceived  a  gleam  of  light 
through  a  mass  of  dark  leaves,  which  suggested  that  the  open- 
ing was  immediately  before  us.  We  stood  still  once  more  to 
make  our  pistols  ready  for  action.  Whether  after  having  been 
so  wet,  they  would  have  gone  off  is  very  questionable.  After  all 
we  had  suffered,  we  were  now  determined  to  do  our  utmost. 
But  the  field  was  clear,  the  chain  of  guards  had  disappeared. 
The  cornfield  lay  immediately  before  us.  A  low  whistle  on  our 
part  was  promptly  answered,  and  our  man  joined  us  a  moment 
later. 

He  reported  that  the  road  was  free.  We  marched  vigor- 
ously on  and  in  less  than  an  hour  we  reached  the  village  of 
Steinmauern.  Our  friend  conducted  us  to  the  bank  of  the 
Rhine  and  showed  us  a  boat  in  which  a  man  lay  fast  asleep. 
He  was  quickly  roused,  and  our  friend  announced  to  him  that 
we  were  the  men  he  was  to  take  across  the  Rhine.  "  That  will 
cost  five  florins,"  growled  the  boatman,  who,  upon  my  question 
as  to  what  countryman  he  was,  told  me  he  came  from  Coblenz. 
I  gave  him  the  reward  asked  for,  and  offered  also  some  more 
money  to  our  kind  friend.  "  You  have  given  me  already 
enough,"  he  said;  "  what  you  still  have  you  will  be  very  much 
in  need  of.  My  name  is  Augustin  Loeffler.  Perhaps  we  may 
meet  again  in  this  world.  God  protect  you." 

Then  we  shook  hands  most  cordially  and  parted.  We 
fugitives  stepped  into  the  boat,  and  our  friend  wandered  back 
to  Rastatt.  Many  years  later,  when  I  was  Secretary  of  the 
Interior  in  the  government  of  the  United  States,  I  received 
one  day  a  letter  from  Augustin  Loeffler.  It  was  dated  at  a 
little  place  in  Canada.  He  wrote  me  that  he  had  left  Germany 
a  short  time  after  the  revolutionary  period,  and  was  doing  very 
well  in  his  new  home.  He  had  read  in  the  newspapers  that  I 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
was  one  of  the  three  young  men  who  in  that  July  night,  1849, 
had  been  conducted  by  him  from  Rastatt  to  the  Rhine.  In 
answer  I  expressed  my  joy  at  the  receipt  of  his  letter,  and 
requested  him  to  write  again,  but  I  have  heard  nothing  from 
him  since. 

In  an  unexpectedly  short  time  the  boatman  put  us 
ashore  in  a  dense  growth  of  willows.  It  was  between  two  and 
three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  as  the  surroundings  seemed 
to  be  rather  uninviting,  we  resolved  to  sit  down  upon  old 
stumps  of  trees  and  there  to  await  the  light  of  day.  At  daybreak 
we  arose  to  look  for  the  nearest  Alsatian  village;  but  soon  we 
discovered  that  we  were  on  an  island.  A  little  house  which 
stood  in  the  middle  of  the  island  seemed  to  be  the  abode  of  a 
frontier  guard  of  the  grand  duchy  of  Baden.  So  it  looked  as  if 
we  were  still  in  the  enemy's  country,  and  as  if  the  boatman  from 
Coblenz  had  deceived  us.  The  shutters  and  the  doors  of  the  little 
house  were  closed.  We  listened,  but  heard  no  sounds  inside.  A 
rapid  run  over  the  island  convinced  us  that,  excepting  us  three, 
there  was  no  human  being  on  it.  We  went  to  the  water's  edge 
opposite  Alsatia,  and  in  the  rising  sunlight  saw  on  the  other  side 
two  men  whom  we  soon  recognized  to  be  French  customs 
officers.  We  called  out  to  them  across  the  water  that  we  were 
fugitives  and  desired  to  be  taken  over.  One  of  the  men  came 
over  to  us  in  a  little  skiff  and  took  us  across  to  Alsatian  soil.  We 
gave  up  our  arms  to  him  and  assured  him  and  his  comrade,  amid 
great  laughter,  that  we  had  brought  with  us  from  Rastatt 
nothing  else  subject  to  tariff  duty.  When  I  felt  myself  now 
really  in  freedom  and  security,  my  first  impulse  was,  after  a 
silence  of  four  days,  to  shout  as  loudly  as  I  could.  My  com- 
panions had  the  same  feeling,  and  so  we  burst  forth  to  our 
hearts'  content,  watched  with  great  astonishment  by  the 
French  officers,  who  may  have  taken  us  for  madmen.  We  had 

[233] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
landed  near  a  little  village  called  Munchhausen.  The  officers 
told  us  that  in  the  town  of  Selz,  near  by,  there  were  many  Ger- 
man fugitives,  and  to  Selz  therefore  we  went.  On  the  way  we 
gazed  at  one  another  in  the  clear  sunlight,  and  discovered  that 
we  looked  like  savages.  For  days  and  nights  we  had  waded  or 
squatted  in  wet  clothes  in  water,  mud  and  dust.  Our  hair  was 
matted  and  our  faces  were  streaked  with  dirt.  A  near  rivulet 
furnished  us  the  indescribable  luxury  of  a  washing,  and  thus 
retsored  to  human  shape,  we  soon  reached  the  inn  at  Selz. 

The  refugees  there  from  Baden,  none  of  whom  had  been 
in  Rastatt,  welcomed  us  heartily,  and  asked  us  at  once  for  the 
story  of  our  adventures.  But  our  first  wish  was  for  a  hot  bath, 
a  breakfast,  and  a  bed.  All  this  we  obtained.  I  slept  twenty- 
four  hours  with  slight  interruptions.  Then  I  acquainted  the 
company- of  refugees  in  the  inn  with  the  circumstances  of  our 
escape  from  Rastatt.  From  them  I  learned  also  for  the  first 
time  that  Kinkel  had  been  captured  by  the  Prussians  in  a  fight 
near  the  fortress,  before  the  beginning  of  the  siege.  When  we 
left  the  Palatinate  and  he  could  no  longer  make  himself  useful 
in  the  offices  of  the  provisional  government,  he  had  joined  a 
battalion  of  volunteers  and  shouldered  his  musket  as  a  private 
soldier.  Thus  he  would  share  the  lot  of  the  revolutionary  army. 
In  the  fight  on  the  line  of  the  Murg  River  he  was  wounded  in 
the  head  and  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  attacking  Prussians. 
He  was  then  incarcerated  in  one  of  the  casemates  at  Rastatt, 
together  with  the  captured  garrison,  in  order  to  have  him  tried 
by  court-martial,  which  would,  no  doubt,  order  him  to  be 
shot.  This  news  threw  a  black  veil  over  my  joy  at  my  own 
recovered  freedom. 

On  the  day  after  our  arrival  in  Selz  a  police  officer  ap- 
peared at  the  inn,  by  the  authority  of  the  mayor,  to  learn  our 
names,  and  also  whether  we  expected  to  remain,  or,  if  not, 

[234] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
where  we  intended  to  go.  "  We  want  to  go  to  Strasburg,"  I 
answered  haphazard.  The  mayor  gave  us  thereupon  a  sort  of 
passport,  with  the  instruction  that  we  should  report  ourselves  at 
once  in  Strasburg  to  the  prefect.  The  depressing  serious- 
ness came  over  me  that  I  was  now  really  a  homeless  man,  a 
fugitive,  and  under  police  surveillance.  After  having  written 
to  my  parents  and  described  to  them  my  escape,  we  started  for 
Strasburg  without  further  delay.  The  real  goal,  however,  of 
my  journey  was  Switzerland,  where,  as  I  learned,  Anneke 
and  many  others  of  my  friends  might  be  found. 

If  I  had  remained  only  a  few  days  longer  in  Selz  I  should 
have  seen  my  father  in  the  same  inn  in  which  I  had  slept  my 
first  night  in  freedom.  The  mischance  happened  in  this  wise: 
The  letter  I  had  written  to  my  parents  on  the  day  of  the  surren- 
der at  Rastatt,  in  the  expectation  that  I  would  be  taken  prisoner 
together  with  the  rest  of  the  garrison,  struck  them  like  a  clap 
of  thunder,  and  at  once  my  father  set  out  to  look  for  his  son. 
Arrived  in  Rastatt,  he  reported  himself  at  the  office  of  the  Prus- 
sian commander,  to  learn  something  about  my  fate.  The  com- 
mander received  him  kindly,  but  on  inquiry  could  not  give  him 
any  further  information  than  that  my  name  was  not  on  the  list 
of  the  captives.  This  surprised  my  father  very  much,  and  he 
requested  permission  to  visit  the  casemates  in  which  the  pris- 
oners were  kept.  This  permission  he  received,  and  an  officer 
accompanied  him  on  this  anxious  search.  From  casemate  to 
casemate  they  went  three  days  long,  and  of  one  man  after 
another  they  inquired  about  me,  but  all  in  vain.  Many  of  those 
they  saw  knew  me,  but  nobody  knew  what  had  become  of  me. 
Nobody  had  seen  me  on  the  occasion  of  the  surrender.  My 
father  found  Kinkel  among  the  crowd.  "  What,"  Kinkel  cried, 
"  is  Carl  here,  too?  Alas,  I  believed  him  to  be  secure  in 
Switzerland ! " 

[235] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
In   speechless  grief  the   two  men  pressed  each  other's 
hand. 

When  my  father  had  thus  many  days  looked  for  me  in 
vain,  a  ray  of  hope  dawned  upon  him  that  after  all  I  might 
have  escaped.  From  citizens  in  Rastatt  he  learned  that  there 
were  several  refugees  from  Baden  on  the  other  side  of  the 
Rhine  in  Selz.  Possibly  one  of  these  might  be  able  to  give  him 
tidings  about  me.  A  few  hours  later  my  father  appeared  at 
the  inn  in  Selz,  and  there  he  inscribed  his  name.  Then  he 
learned  the  whole  story  of  my  flight,  and  how  only  a  few  days 
before  I  had  been  in  Selz  and  was  now  gone  to  Strasburg, 
with  the  intention  of  traveling  further,  nobody  knew  where, 
probably  to  Switzerland.  My  father  burst  into  tears  of  joy,  and 
exclaimed  again  and  again,  "That  boy!  That  boy!  Now  I 
must  quickly  go  home  to  tell  his  mother."  As  he  could  hardly 
hope  still  to  find  me  in  Strasburg,  and  expected  to  hear  from 
me  before  long,  he  returned  without  delay  to  Bonn.  One 
of  the  refugees  from  Baden,  who  had  seen  my  father  in  the  inn 
at  Selz,  and  who  had  given  him  the  happy  news  about  me,  told 
me  all  this  a  month  later  in  Switzerland,  and  he  could  hardly 
master  his  emotion  when  he  described  to  me  my  father's  joy. 


[236] 


CHAPTER  VIII 

r  ROM  Selz  to  Strasburg  we  wandered  on  foot.  It  was  a  beau- 
tiful Sunday  afternoon.  For  a  time  we  could  see  from  our 
road  the  steeples  of  Rastatt.  This  distant  view  of  the  prison 
from  which  he  had  escaped  would  have  been  more  joyful  had 
it  not  reminded  us  of  the  unfortunate  friends  who  in  this  dun- 
geon awaited  a  sad  fate.  As  we  were  still  wearing  uniforms, 
having  no  other  clothes,  we  were  easily  recognized  as  fugitive 
revolutionary  soldiers,  and  not  seldom  the  village  folk  stopped 
us  and  wished  to  know  how  we  had  escaped.  Then  we  were 
invited  to  rest,  and  were  entertained  with  wine,  refreshments 
and  merry  conversation  until  late  in  the  evening,  when  we 
reached  Strasburg.  There  we  stopped  at  the  hotel,  the  "  Reb- 
stockl,"  the  host  of  which  was  well  known  for  his  warm  German 
sympathies.  He  gave  us  a  hearty  welcome  and  took  especial 
care  of  us  after  he  had  heard  our  story.  The  next  day  we  were 
obliged  to  report  ourselves  to  the  prefect.  This  officer  informed 
us  that  the  French  government  had  resolved  to  send  the  Ger- 
man refugees  into  the  interior;  we  could  therefore  stay  neither 
in  Strasburg  nor  in  any  other  place  near  the  frontier.  Neither 
could  he  give  us  passports  to  Switzerland.  But  as  it  was  our 
special  desire  to  go  to  Switzerland,  we  resolved  to  continue  our 
journey  secretly  without  the  assent  of  the  authorities. 

Meantime  the  news  had  come  that  those  of  the  pri- 
vate soldiers  of  Baden  and  the  volunteers  of  the  Palatinate, 
who  had  done  nothing  but  simply  serve  in  the  revolu- 
tionary army,  were  to  be  sent  home  without  punishment. 
Only  the  officers  and  other  noted  transgressors  were   held 

[237] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
back.  Nothing  therefore  stood  in  the  way  of  Adam's  re- 
turn home,  and  I  urged  him  to  avail  himself  of  this  oppor- 
tunity. Adam  once  more  gave  expression  of  his  warm  attach- 
ment to  me,  of  the  sincerity  of  which  I  certainly  had  no  reason 
to  doubt.  But  he  recognized  that  my  advice  was  good,  and 
resolved  without  delay  to  return  to  his  family  in  the  Palatinate. 
I  divided  the  money  I  had  with  him,  and  thus  we  parted  with 
the  sincerest  emotion  and  with  the  promise  occasionally  to  write 
to  one  another.  Only  when  Adam  was  gone  it  occurred  to  me 
that  I  had  never  known  his  family  name,  so  that  my  efforts 
to  find  him  out  remained  unsuccessful.  I  could  not  write 
to  him;  and  thus  it  happened,  that,  as  he  did  not  write  to 
me,  I  have  never  heard  from  him  again  since  that  day  of 
parting. 

After  having  spent  some  hours  in  visiting  the  Strasburg 
Cathedral,  Neustadter  and  I  prepared  for  departure.  We  pur- 
chased alpaca  dusters  to  conceal  our  military  uniforms,  and 
then  took  a  railway  train  for  Basel,  which,  however,  we  left  at 
a  way-station  shortly  before  reaching  the  Swiss  frontier.  It 
was  near  evening.  We  went  into  a  village  near  by  and  found  a 
little  tavern,  through  the  open  door  of  which  we  saw  a  woman 
busy  at  the  cooking  stove.  We  entered  and  asked  for  some- 
thing to  eat.  In  her  Alsatian  idiom,  hard  for  us  to  understand, 
she  promised  us  some  ham  and  eggs.  While  she  was  preparing 
our  meal  a  man  entered,  whom  we  took  to  be  her  husband  and 
the  landlord  of  the  inn.  As  his  face  inspired  confidence,  I 
thought  it  best  to  acquaint  him  frankly  with  our  situation,  as 
well  as  with  our  wish  to  cross  the  frontier  into  Switzerland 
without  meeting  any  official  person  who  might  demand  a  pass- 
port. Our  host  seemed  to  be  highly  interested,  and  showed  a 
surprising  familiarity  with  the  bypaths  and  trails  used  by  the 
smuggling  fraternity  on  the  Swiss  frontier.  We  suspected 

[238] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
directly  that  he  was  of  that  fraternity  himself.  After  dark 
he  accompanied  us  part  of  the  way,  and  then  instructed  us 
how  we  could  avoid  contact  with  all  the  customs  officers 
and  reach  the  Swiss  village  of  Schonebiihl,  where  we  would 
find,  at  a  certain  minutely  described  spot,  a  barn  which  would 
probably  be  open,  and  where  we  would  have  a  good  night's  rest 
on  the  stored  hay.  We  followed  the  advice,  and  about  midnight 
we  reached  the  barn  and  stretched  ourselves  out  to  sleep. 

Soon  after  sunrise  we  were  on  our  feet  again  and  inquired 
of  some  peasants,  who  seemed  to  be  going  to  their  work,  the 
road  to  Bern — for  I  had  heard  in  Strasburg  that  Anneke  and 
the  other  friends  whom  I  wished  to  join  were  in  that  city.  The 
road  led  us  first  through  fertile  valleys.  The  fields  teemed  with 
men  and  women  busy  gathering  their  crops.  I  remember  well 
the  emotion  experienced  on  that  march.  It  was  a  joyful  picture 
I  beheld,  but  again  and  again  the  thought  arose  in  me,  "  How 
much  happier  those  toilers  are  than  I!  When  they  have  done 
their  hard  work  they  return  to  their  homes.  They  have  a  home, 
and  I  have  none."  I  could  not  get  rid  of  those  somber  reflec- 
tions until  we  reached  the  Munsterthal,  that  magnificent  cleft 
in  the  Jura  Mountains.  After  a  short  rest  I  could  not  restrain 
the  desire  to  take  a  look  directly  at  the  high  Alps.  So  we 
climbed  up  the  Monto,  which  rises  to  an  elevation  of  about 
4000  feet,  and  there  we  beheld  for  the  first  time  in  the  distance 
the  marvelous  sublimity  of  the  snowy  mountain  heads.  It  was 
a  strange,  invigorating  and  inspiring  sight. 

In  a  deep  valley,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Monto,  we 
stopped  at  a  wayside  tavern,  in  which  we  found  an  intelli- 
gent-looking man,  and  a  boy,  who  were  refreshing  themselves 
with  wine  and  bread  and  cheese.  The  man,  when  we  asked  for 
the  road  and  the  distances  from  place  to  place,  informed  us 
kindly  that  he  lived  at  Bern,  and  was  just  enjoying  a  little 

[  23D  ] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
excursion  with  his  son.  Pushing  our  inquiries  further,  we 
learned  that  he  knew  several  of  the  German  refugees,  among 
others  my  friends,  and  that  these  had  indeed  spent  some  time 
in  Bern,  but  about  a  week  ago  had  left  that  city  to  go  to  Dor- 
nachbruck,  near  Basel,  where  he  was  sure  I  could  now  find 
them.  This  was  disagreeable  news  to  me.  In  order  to  join 
them  I  had  to  retrace  my  steps  the  way  we  had  come.  I  re- 
solved at  once  to  do  so.  But  Neustadter,  who  did  not  know  my 
friends,  and  who  hoped  to  find  some  occupation  in  Bern,  pre- 
ferred to  continue  his  journey  in  that  direction.  Thus  we 
parted  in  the  little  tavern,  and  did  not  meet  again  until  eight- 
een years  later,  in  St.  Louis,  on  the  Mississippi  River,  where 
he  occupied  a  modest  but  respected  position,  and  where  we 
then  pleasantly  rehearsed  the  common  adventures  of  our  youth- 
ful days. 

My  arrival  at  Dornachbruck  brought  me  a  new  disap- 
pointment. In  the  village  inn  I  learned  that  Anneke  and 
others  of  my  friends  had  indeed  been  there  a  few  days  before, 
but  after  a  short  stop  had  left  for  Zurich.  I  would  gladly  have 
traveled  after  them  at  once  had  I  been  sure  that  those  whom 
I  sought  had  not  left  Zurich  again.  My  purse,  too,  was  nearly 
empty,  and,  moreover,  I  felt  physically  very  much  exhausted. 
So  I  concluded  it  would  be  best,  for  the  time  being,  to  remain  in 
Dornachbruck.  I  took  a  room  in  the  inn,  wrote  home  for  some 
money  and  the  clothes  I  had  left  behind,  and  went  to  bed.  The 
great  excitements  and  fatigues  of  the  past  days  began  to  tell 
on  me.  I  was  thoroughly  tired  out,  and  felt  myself  lonely  and 
forsaken.  Sleep  refreshed  me  but  little.  In  very  low  spirits  I 
wandered  about  in  the  village  and  surrounding  country,  and 
spent  many  an  hour  in  the  crumbling  tower  of  a  castle  ruin, 
lying  in  the  grass  or  sitting  on  moss-covered  masonry.  My 
melancholy  grew  deeper  and  darker.  The  future  lay  like  a 

[240] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
black  cloud  before  me.  I  imagined  myself  at  last  seriously  ill, 
and  then  spent  the  larger  part  of  the  day  lying  on  my  bed  in  a 
drowsy  condition.  It  may  have  been  on  my  tenth  day  in  Dor- 
nachbruck  when,  one  morning,  I  heard  a  remarkably  loud 
voice  downstairs  calling  my  name.  "  That  must  be  old  Strodt- 
mann,"  I  exclaimed,  and  jumped  from  my  bed.  Indeed  it  was 
he,  my  Schleswig-Holstein  friend.  He  had  come  from  Bonn, 
to  bring  me  a  letter  from  my  parents  and  dozens  of  them 
from  my  university  friends.  Also  a  purse  bursting  with 
gold,  and  whatever  else  I  stood  in  need  of.  My  escape  from 
Rastatt  had  created  in  Bonn  a  most  joyful  sensation,  which 
in  the  letters  brought  by  Strodtmann  found  lively  expression, 
and  of  which  Strodtmann  could  not  tell  me  enough.  My 
melancholy  was  gone  at  once.  Suddenly  I  felt  perfectly  well, 
and  after  having  celebrated  our  reunion  with  the  best  dinner 
that  the  inn  in  Dornachbruck  could  furnish,  we  resolved  to 
set  out  on  the  next  day  for  Zurich,  where  Strodtmann  prom- 
ised to  remain  with  me  for  a  while. 

Thus  we  marched  forth,  student- fashion,  frequently  stop- 
ping by  the  way,  and  then  resuming  our  journey  with  con- 
stantly increasing  gayety.  On  the  River  Aar,  in  view  of  the 
ruins  of  Hapsburg,  not  far  from  the  spot  where  centuries  ago 
the  Emperor  Albrecht  had  been  killed  by  his  nephew,  Johann 
von  Schwaben,  we  lay  down  in  the  grass,  lost  ourselves  in  his- 
toric contemplations  and  poetic  outbursts,  and  fell  asleep.  It 
was  evening  when  a  Swiss  policeman  woke  us.  We  found  good 
quarters  in  an  inn  near  by,  and  the  next  day  secured  seats 
on  top  of  the  mail  coach  for  Zurich.  When  we  arrived  at 
Zurich,  whom  should  I  see?  There,  at  the  halting-place  of 
the  mail,  stood  my  friends:  Anneke,  Techow,  Schimmel- 
pfennig  and  Beust,  the  very  friends  that  I  had  been  pur- 
suing on  my  journey  hither  and  thither — there  they  stood, 

[  241  ] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
just  as  if  they  had  expected  me.  Their  surprise  was  no  less 
than  mine.  When  I  jumped  down  among  them,  as  if  I  had 
dropped  from  the  clouds,  they  hardly  trusted  their  eyes.  They 
had  heard  nothing  of  my  escape  from  Rastatt.  Neither  had 
they  found  my  name  in  the  newspapers  that  gave  an  account 
of  the  revolutionary  officers  imprisoned  in  the  casemates.  No- 
body had  been  able  to  tell  them  about  me.  Thus  they  had  come  to 
believe  that  I  had  been  lost,  perhaps  in  one  of  the  last  engage- 
ments, perhaps  in  an  attempt  to  pass  the  Prussian  lines.  As 
they  now  saw  me  before  them,  alive  and  well,  there  was  no  end 
to  their  exclamations  of  astonishment. 

Before  evening  I  was  lodged  in  the  house  of  a  baker's 
widow,  in  the  Dorf  Enge,  a  suburb  of  Zurich.  Strodtmann 
found  quarters  in  a  neighboring  inn.  My  other  friends  lived 
near  by  in  the  house  of  the  schoolmaster.  All  this  was  very 
convenient  and  comfortable,  although  extremely  simple. 
While  Strodtmann  was  with  me  my  thoughts  moved  in  the 
atmosphere  of  the  old  conditions  and  surroundings,  and  my 
sojourn  in  Zurich  appeared  almost  like  part  of  a  student's 
jaunt.  But  ten  days  later  my  dear  good  friend  returned 
to  Bonn,  and  what  now  began  for  me  was  the  life  of  a 
refugee  in  its  true  reality.  I  had  not  become  quite  conscious  of 
it  all  when  the  illness,  which  had  threatened  in  Dornachbruck 
and  had  then  been  interrupted  by  the  happy  meeting  with 
Strodtmann,  developed  into  a  violent  fever,  which  kept  me 
in  bed  two  weeks.  The  village  physician,  as  well  as  the 
baker's  widow  and  her  daughter,  took  care  of  me,  and  after  a 
time  I  fully  recovered.  But  when  I  rose  from  my  bed  I  found 
myself  in  a  strange  world.  It  came  over  me  that  I  had  abso- 
lutely nothing  to  do.  My  first  impulse  was  to  look  for  a  regular 
occupation.  But  soon  I  convinced  myself  that  a  young  man 
like  myself,  who  might  have  given  lessons  in  Latin,  Greek  or 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
music,  had  little  to  hope  for  in  a  population  which,  although  it 
had  hospitably  received  a  great  mass  of  fugitives,  did,  after  all, 
not  like  them  much.  The  other  refugees  were  in  the  same  con- 
dition, but  many  of  them  looked  down  upon  such  endeavors 
with  a  certain  contempt,  so  long,  at  least,  as  their  pecuniary 
resources  were  not  exhausted.  They  firmly  believed  that  a  new 
upheaval  would  occur  in  the  old  Fatherland  before  long.  No- 
body cultivates  the  art  of  deceiving  himself  with  the  windiest 
illusions  more  cleverly,  more  systematically  and  more  untiringly 
than  the  political  refugee.  We  succeeded  easily  in  finding  in 
newspapers  some  news  that  clearly  indicated  to  us  the  inevita- 
ble and  fast-approaching  outbreak  of  a  new  revolution.  We 
were  certain  that  we  would  soon  return  triumphantly  to  Ger- 
many, there  to  be  the  heroes  of  the  day,  the  true  champions  of 
a  victorious  cause.  Why  should  we  therefore  trouble  ourselves 
with  cares  for  the  future  ?  It  appeared  to  us  much  more  impor- 
tant and  appropriate  to  discuss  and  determine  the  part  each 
should  play  in  the  coming  action.  With  the  profoundest 
seriousness  we  debated  the  question  who  should  be  a  mem- 
ber of  the  provisional  government,  or  minister,  or  military 
leader. 

We  gravely  sat  in  judgment  over  each  other's  char- 
acter, capabilities,  and  especially  fidelity  to  revolutionary 
principles,  and  but  few  forgot  in  this  respect  the  positions 
to  which  they  believed  themselves  entitled.  In  short,  we 
disposed  of  the  glorious  future  as  if  we  had  actually  held  the 
power  over  it  in  bur  own  hands.  Such  delusions  were  well 
apt  to  develop  among  us  a  light-hearted  and  idle  tavern 
existence,  to  which  many  of  our  companions  gave  themselves 
without  restraint.  I  heard  some  of  my  refugee  friends  say, 
with  a  sort  of  lofty  condescension,  that  the  Fatherland  looked 
to  us  as  its  great  helpers  and  leaders ;  that  we  had  to  devote  our 

[243] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
lives  solely  to  this  exalted  duty,  and  that  therefore  we  should 
not  fritter  away  our  time  and  our  strength  in  commonplace 
philistine  occupations. 

I  must  admit  that  in  a  simple-hearted,  naive  way  I  shared 
this  illusion — I  was  still  only  twenty  years  old — as  to  the  immi- 
nence of  a  new  revolutionary  uprising.  But  the  tavern  had  no 
charm  for  me  whatever,  and  soon  the  life  of  a  refugee  began 
to  yawn  at  me  like  a  horrible  void.  A  restless  craving  for  sys- 
tematic mental  activity  seized  upon  me.  First  I  thought  of  the 
tasks  which,  as  a  young  man,  I  would  have  to  perform  in  the 
anticipated  new  struggles  in  Germany.  With  my  nearest 
friends,  who  had  all  been  officers  in  the  Prussian  army,  and 
were  excellent  teachers,  I  reviewed  and  studied  the  military 
operations  in  Baden  on  a  map  specially  drawn  by  us  for  that 
purpose.  Then  followed  a  series  of  military  studies,  of  tactics 
and  strategy,  for  which  my  friends  furnished  me  the  necessary 
material  and  instruction,  and  which  I  carried  on  with  great 
zeal.  Who  could  have  thought  that  the  knowledge  thus  gath- 
ered would  be  of  use  to  me  on  a  field  of  operations  far  away 
from  Germany,  and  that  one  of  my  teachers,  Schimmelpf en- 
nig,  would  then  be  a  brigadier  in  my  command! 

This  work,  however,  did  not  altogether  satisfy  me.  My 
old  love  for  historical  studies  was  as  strong  as  ever,  and  as  I 
succeeded  in  gaining  access  to  a  good  library,  in  which  I  found 
the  works  of  the  historian  Ranke  and  many  other  books  of 
value,  I  was  soon  again  profoundly  immersed  in  the  history  of 
the  Reformation. 

When  winter  came  my  lodgings  in  the  house  of  the 
of  the  good  baker's  widow  became  uncomfortable  on  account 
of  the  cold.  Then  I  took,  with  a  companion  in  the  Palatinate 
revolution,  an  old  Prussian  head  forester  by  the  name  of  Em- 
mermann,  two  cosy  rooms  in  the  house  of  a  merchant  on  tlje 

[244] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
Schanzengraben.  My  chum  had  the  typical  face  of  an  old 
forester,  weather-beaten,  illumined  by  keen  eyes,  furrowed  with 
a  network  of  deep  wrinkles,  and  ornamented  with  a  gigantic 
gray  mustache.  He  was  an  old  bachelor,  an  amiable,  benevo- 
lent soul,  and  we  lived  together  in  cheerful  peace  and  friend- 
ship. He  told  me  often  that  his  forest-house  had  been  situated 
in  the  neighborhood  of  a  place  called  Tronegg,  which  had 
been  in  the  immemorial  past  the  seat  of  the  gloomy  hero  of  the 
Nibelungen  Lied,  Hagen  von  Tronje. 

Thus  I  lived  in  agreeable  domestic  conditions  and  contin- 
ued diligently  my  military  and  historical  studies.  Although  I 
avoided  the  tavern  as  much  as  possible,  I  did  not  keep  entirely 
aloof  from  intercourse  with  a  larger  circle  of  refugees.  We 
had  a  political  club  that  met  once  a  week,  and  in  the  transactions 
of  which  I  took  an  interested  part.  This  club  was  in  corre- 
spondence with  democratic  friends  in  the  Fatherland,  informed 
itself  about  the  state  of  the  public  mind  and  about  everything 
that  could  be  considered  symptomatic  of  the  coming  new  revolu- 
tion, and  endeavored  to  put  in  its  own  work  here  and  there — 
an  activity  of  which  I  learned  only  some  time  later  how  utterly 
illusory  it  was.  From  time  to  time  it  occurred  to  me  that  the 
revolution  might  delay  its  coming  much  longer  than  we  be- 
lieved, and  I  began  to  make  plans  for  my  own  future.  There 
was  a  rumor  that  the  federal  government  of  Switzerland 
intended  to  found  a  great  university  at  Zurich.  I  thought  if  the 
new  German  revolution  kept  us  waiting  all  too  long,  I  might 
establish  myself  at  the  university  as  a  "  Privat-Docent "  of 
history,  and  then  win  for  myself  by-and-by  a  regular  professor- 
ship. For  the  time  being  I  gladly  accepted  the  proposition  of 
my  friend,  Dr.  Hermann  Becker,  dubbed  the  "  red  Becker  " 
at  the  university,  to  write  articles  for  the  newspaper  edited  by 
him  in  Cologne,  the  remuneration  for  which  was  sufficient  to 

[245] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL   SCHURZ 
keep  me  above  water  until  something  better  could  be  found. 
Thus  I  believed  to  perceive  some  bright  spots  in  the  fogs  of  the 
future. 

My  most  remarkable  acquaintance  of  those  days  was  Rich- 
ard Wagner,  who,  in  consequence  of  his  participation  in  the 
revolutionary  uprising  in  Dresden,  had  been  obliged  to  leave 
Germany,  and  now  lived  as  one  of  the  refugees  in  Zurich.  He 
had  then  already  written  some  of  his  most  important  creations, 
but  his  greatness  was  appreciated  only  by  a  very  small  circle  of 
friends.  Among  the  refugees  at  Zurich  he  was  by  no  means 
popular.  He  passed  for  an  extremely  arrogant,  domineering 
character,  with  whom  nobody  could  long  associate,  and  who 
treated  his  wife,  the  first  one — a  stately,  good-natured,  but 
mentally  not  highly  gifted  woman — very  neglectfully.  If  any- 
one among  us  had  then  prophesied  his  magnificent  career  he 
would  have  found  little  credence.  As  an  insignificant  and 
reticent  young  man,  of  course,  I  did  not  come  close  to  him. 
Although  I  met  him  and  spoke  with  him  occasionally,  he  prob- 
ably never  noticed  me  sufficiently  to  remember  me. 

In  the  course  of  time  I  should  probably  have  suc- 
ceeded in  obtaining  some  position  as  teacher,  if  not  at  the 
university,  at  least  at  some  other  minor  institution,  had  not 
my  life  of  quiet  study  had  been  interrupted  by  an  event  that 
was  destined  to  turn  it  into  very  different  channels.  The  un- 
happy lot  of  my  friend,  Professor  Kinkel,  was  constantly  in 
my  mind,  all  the  more  as  it  had  taken  an  unexpected  and 
particularly  shocking  turn.  After  having  been  wounded  in 
the  head  and  taken  prisoner  by  the  Prussians,  Kinkel  was 
carried  first  to  Karlsruhe,  and  then  after  the  surrender  of 
Rastatt,  to  that  fortress,  where  he  was  to  be  tried  by  a  court- 
martial.  On  the  4th  of  August  Kinkel  appeared  before  that 
tribunal,  which  was  composed  of  Prussian  officers.  Sentences 

[  246  ] 


GOTTFRIED    KINKEL    IN     CHAINS 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHUR23 
of  death  were  at  that  time  the  order  of  the  day.  And  there  is 
no  doubt  that,  at  army  headquarters  as  well  as  at  the  seat  of  the 
Prussian  government,  Kinkel's  condemnation  to  death  was 
desired  and  expected.  But  Kinkel  conducted  his  defense  him- 
self, and  even  the  warriors  composing  the  court-martial,  men 
educated  in  the  strictest  allegiance  to  royal  absolutism,  could 
not  resist  the  charm  of  his  wonderful  eloquence.  Instead  of 
condemning  him  to  death,  they  sentenced  him  to  confinement 
for  life  in  a  fortress. 

To  Kinkel's  friends,  to  the  admirers  of  the  poet,  I  may 
say,  to  a  large  majority  of  the  German  people,  this  sentence  ap- 
peared cruel  enough.  But  the  Prussian  government  at  once 
manifested  its  dissatisfaction  with  it,  for  the  reason  that  it  was 
too  mild.  A  rumor  arose  that  the  verdict  would  be  set  aside 
on  account  of  some  neglected  formalities,  and  that  Kinkel  was 
to  be  put  before  a  new  court-martial.  For  weeks  the  poor  pris- 
oner, with  alternate  hope  and  fear,  looked  forward  to  the  con- 
firmation or  rejection  of  the  sentence,  until  at  last,  on  the  30th 
of  September,  the  following  public  announcement  appeared : 

"  Warning.  The  late  professor  and  member  of  a  free  corps, 
Johann  Gottfried  Kinkel  of  Bonn,  having  fought  among  the  insurgents 
in  Baden  with  arms  in  his  hands  against  Prussian  troops,  has  been 
sentenced  by  the  court-martial  instituted  at  Rastatt  to  lose  the  Prussian 
cockade  and  instead  of  the  penalty  of  death  only  to  confinement  for  life 
in  a  fortress.  For  examination  of  the  legality  of  this  sentence,  it  was 
submitted  by  me  to  the  royal  auditor-general,  and  by  him  to  his  Maj  esty , 
the  king,  for  rejection  on  account  of  illegality.  His  majesty  has  gra- 
ciously deigned  to  affirm  the  sentence,  with  the  qualification  that  Kinkel 
shall  undergo  imprisonment  in  a  civil  penitentiary.  According  to  this 
most  high  order,  I  affirm  the  verdict  of  the  court-martial,  to  the  effect 
that  Kinkel  is  to  be  punished  on  account  of  treason  with  the  loss  of  the 
Prussian  cockade  and  with    imprisonment  for  life,  and  that  in  execution 

[  247  ] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL   SCHURZ 

of  this  sentence  he  shall  be  taken  to  a  house  of  penal  servitude;  all  of 
which  is  herewith  brought  to  public  knowledge. 
"Headquarters,  Freiburg,  30  September,  1849- 

"  The  Commanding  General  von  Hirschfeld." 

This  monstrous  proceeding  called  forth,  even  from  many 
of  those  who  did  not  share  Kinkel's  political  opinions  and  who 
disapproved  of  his  acts,  expressions  of  the  prof  oundest  indig- 
nation. The  sentence  pronounced  by  a  regular  court-martial 
was  called  illegal  simply  because  it  was  not  a  sentence  of  death. 
It  was  called  an  "  act  of  grace,"  that  the  king,  nominally  ac- 
cepting that  so-called  illegal  sentence  of  the  court-martial, 
changed  the  confinement  in  a  fortress  into  imprisonment 
in  a  penitentiary.  What  was  confinement  in  a  fortress?  It 
was  imprisonment  in  a  fortified  place  under  military  sur- 
veillance, which  permitted  the  prisoner  to  retain  all  the  signs 
of  his  civil  identity,  his  name,  his  clothes,  his  character 
as  a  man,  and  had  treatment  on  the  part  of  his  guards  not 
unworthy  of  that  character — a  kind  of  imprisonment  in  which 
he  could  continue  his  accustomed  mental  occupations — im- 
prisonment, to  be  sure,  but  not  disgrace,  not  degradation 
to  the  level  of  the  common  felon.  And  what  was  confine- 
ment in  a  house  of  penal  servitude?  Imprisonment  in  an 
institution  intended  for  the  ordinary  criminal,  where  the 
prisoner  was  on  the  same  level  with  the  thief,  the  forger,  the 
highwayman;  where  his  head  was  shorn,  his  ordinary  dress  ex- 
changed for  the  striped  jacket,  where  he  lost  his  name  and 
received  in  its  stead  a  number,  where,  in  case  of  a  breach  of 
disciplinary  rules,  he  was  punished  with  flogging,  where  he  had 
to  abandon  his  whole  mental  life  to  do  menial  labor  of  the  lowest 
kind.  And  this  was  called  an  act  of  grace!  It  was  not  to  miti- 
gate a  sentence  of  death,  because  there  was  no  such  sentence, 

[248] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
but  to  change  the  sentence  of  confinement  in  a  fortress,  such 
as  I  have  described,  into  something  infinitely  more  cruel,  some- 
thing loaded  with  debasement  and  infamy — a  sentence  of 
penal  servitude — and  this  to  Kinkel,  the  art-historian,  who  had 
opened  the  realms  of  the  beautiful  to  so  many  a  youthful  mind ; 
the  poet,  who  had  cheered  and  lifted  up  so  many  a  German 
heart;  the  genial,  refined,  amiable,  warm-hearted  gentleman, 
whom  only  enthusiasm  for  liberty  and  fatherland  had  made 
to  do  what  they  called  his  crime !  Even  if  he  had,  according  to 
the  law,  deserved  punishment  after  fighting  in  a  lost  cause, 
the  sound  sense  and  the  human  sympathy  of  many  of  his  oppo- 
nents revolted  at  the  brutal  arbitrariness  which,  overriding  the 
obvious  sense  of  a  court-martial  verdict,  would  not  only  punish, 
but  degrade  him  and  bury  him  amid  the  dregs  of  the  human 
kind.  Even  death,  which  would  have  left  to  him  his  dignity  as 
a  man,  would  have  seemed  less  inhuman  than  such  an  "  act 
pf  grace." 

Kinkel  was  first  taken  to  the  prison  at  Bruchsal  in  Baden, 
and  soon  afterwards  to  the  penitentiary  at  Naugard  in  Pome- 
rania.  It  was  evidently  intended  to  remove  him  as  far  as  possi- 
ble from  the  Rhineland,  where  sympathy  for  him  was  warmest. 
With  shorn  head,  clothed  in  a  gray  prison  jacket,  he  spent  his 
days  in  spinning  wool.  On  Sundays  he  had  to  sweep  his  cell. 
He  was  denied,  so  far  as  possible,  all  mental  activity.  His  diet 
was  that  of  the  criminal  in  the  penitentiary.  From  the  day  of 
his  arrival  in  Naugard,  October  8,  1849,  until  April,  1850, 
he  received  altogether  only  one  pound  of  meat.  But  he  moved 
the  heart  of  the  director  of  the  penitentiary,  and  his  treatment 
assumed  gradually  a  more  considerate  character,  a  few  small 
favors  being  granted  to  him.  He  was  permitted  more  frequent 
correspondence  with  his  wife,  his  letters  being  opened  and  read, 
however,  by  the  officers;  and  he  was  relieved  of  the  task  of 

[249] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
cleaning  his  cell.  A  little  gift  of  sweetmeats,  which  his  family 
sent  at  Christmas-time,  was  delivered  to  him.  But  he  was 
still  obliged  to  spin  wool;  and  when  our  good  Strodtmann,  at 
that  time  a  student  in  Bonn,  appealed  to  the  popular  heart  in 
Kinkel's  behalf,  in  a  poem  called  the  "  Spinning  Song,"  the 
young  poet  was  promptly  dismissed  from  the  university. 

In  the  meantime  the  preparations  for  the  trial  of  those 
who  had  taken  part  in  the  attack  upon  the  Siegburg  armory  in 
May,  1849,  went  on  in  Cologne,  and  early  in  the  year  1850  there 
was  a  rumor  that  the  government  intended  to  transport  Kin- 
kel  from  Naugard  to  Cologne  in  the  spring,  for  the  purpose 
of  having  him  also  tried  for  that  revolutionary  attack. 

In  February,  1850,  I  received  a  letter  from  Kinkel's 
wife.  In  burning  colors  she  described  to  me  the  terrible  situa- 
tion of  her  husband  and  the  distress  of  the  family.  But  this 
high-spirited  and  energetic  woman  did  not  speak  to  me  in  the 
tone  of  that  impotent  despair  which  pusillanimously  submits  to 
an  overpowering  fate.  The  thought  that  it  must  be  possible  to 
find  ways  and  means  for  the  liberation  of  her  husband  gave  her 
no  rest  day  and  night.  For  months  she  had  been  corresponding 
with  friends  in  whose  character  she  had  confidence  and  whose 
energy  she  hoped  to  excite.  Some  of  them  had  discussed  with 
her  plans  for  the  rescue  of  her  husband,  and  others  had  put 
sums  of  money  at  her  disposal.  But,  so  she  wrote,  nobody 
had  shown  himself  ready  to  undertake  the  dangerous  enter- 
prise himself.  What  was  needed,  she  said,  was  a  friend  who  had 
sufficient  tenacity  of  purpose,  and  who  would  devote  his  whole 
strength  to  the  work  until  it  should  have  succeeded.  She  herself 
would  make  the  attempt  did  she  not  fear  that  her  appearance 
in  the  vicinity  of  her  husband's  prison  would  at  once  excite 
suspicion  and  stimulate  the  watchfulness  of  his  keepers.  But 
it  was  necessary  to  act  promptly,  before  the  gnawing  tortures 

[250] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
of  prison  life  should  have  completely  destroyed  Kinkel's  men- 
tal and  bodily  strength.  Then  she  informed  me  that  Kinkel, 
according  to  rumor,  would  be  taken  to  Cologne  for  trial  on 
account  of  the  Siegburg  affair,  and  that  there  might  then  pos- 
sibly be  a  favorable  opportunity  for  his  deliverance.  She  asked 
now  for  my  advice,  as  she  confided  in  my  friendship  as  well 
as  in  my  knowledge  of  the  situation. 

The  night  after  the  arrival  of  this  letter  I  slept  but  little. 
Between  the  lines  I  could  read  the  question  whether  I  would 
not  be  the  one  to  undertake  the  venture.  It  was  this  ques- 
tion that  kept  me  awake.  The  spectacle  of  Kinkel  in  his  prison 
jacket  at  the  spinning-wheel  was  constantly  before  my  eyes, 
and  I  could  hardly  endure  the  sight.  I  loved  Kinkel  dearly.  I 
believed  also  that  with  his  great  gifts,  his  enthusiasm  and  his 
rare  eloquence,  he  might  still  do  great  service  to  the  cause  of 
the  German  people.  The  desire  to  restore  him  if  I  could  to 
Germany  and  to  his  family  became  irresistible.  I  resolved  that 
night  to  try  and  make  the  attempt. 

The  next  morning  I  began  to  consider  the  matter  in  de- 
tail. I  remember  that  morning  very  clearly.  Two  doubts 
troubled  me  much.  The  one  was  whether  I  would  be  capa- 
ble of  carrying  so  difficult  an  undertaking  to  a  happy  end.  I 
said  to  myself  that  Frau  Kinkel,  who  after  all  had  most  to  win 
and  most  to  lose,  seemed  to  believe  me  capable,  and  that  it  was 
not  becoming  in  me  to  put  my  ability  in  doubt  in  the  face  of 
her  confidence.  But  would  those  whose  cooperation  in  so  dan- 
gerous a  risk  was  necessary  give  their  confidence  to  so  young 
a  man  as  I  was?  I  might  perhaps  gain  it  by  a  bold  attitude. 
I  cheered  myself  with  the  thought  that  as  a  young,  insignifi- 
cant and  little  known  person  I  might  better  succeed  in  remain- 
ing unnoticed  than  would  an  older  and  more  widely  known 
man,  and  that  therefore  I  might  trust  mj^self  with  less  dan- 

[251] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CAUL  SCHURZ 
ger  in  the  jaws  of  the  lion.  Finally,  would  older,  more  expe- 
rienced, and  more  careful  men  be  willing  to  do  and  dare  all 
that  might  be  required  for  the  purpose  of  the  task?  Perhaps 
not.  In  short,  this  was,  all  things  considered,  a  piece  of  work 
for  a  young  man,  and  my  youth  appeared  to  me  at  last  rather 
in  the  light  of  an  advantage  than  of  a  hindrance. 

My  second  doubt  touched  my  parents.  Could  I  with 
regard  to  them  take  the  responsibility,  after  having  just  es- 
caped from  a  terrible  catastrophe,  to  put  my  life  and  free- 
dom again  in  such  jeopardy?  Would  they  approve?  One 
thing  was  clear:  I  must  not  in  this  case  ask  my  parents  for 
their  permission,  for  I  would  then  have  to  correspond  with 
them  about  my  project,  and  such  a  correspondence,  subject 
to  all  possible  chances  of  detection,  might  thwart  the  whole 
plan.  No;  in  order  to  succeed,  the  undertaking  must  remain 
a  profound  secret,  of  which  only  those  engaged  in  it  were  to 
have  knowledge,  and  even  then,  if  possible,  only  in  part.  To 
my  family  I  could  not  confide  it,  for  a  conversation  among 
them,  accidentally  overheard  by  others,  might  betray  it.  There- 
fore the  question  as  to  the  approval  of  my  parents  I  must 
answer  myself,  and  I  answered  it  quickly.  They  were  among 
Kinkel's  warmest  admirers  and  devoted  to  him  in  loyal  friend- 
ship. They  were  also  good  patriots.  My  mother,  I  thought, 
who  the  year  before  had  given  my  sword  to  me  with  her  own 
hands,  would  say:  "Go  and  save  our  friend."  And  thus  all 
my  doubts  were  overcome. 

On  the  same  day  I  wrote  to  Frau  Kinkel  that  in  my  opin- 
ion she  would  probably  only  aggravate  the  lot  of  her  husband 
if  she  permitted  an  attempt  to  liberate  him  in  Cologne  on  the 
occasion  of  the  Seigburg  trial,  because  then  the  authorities 
would  doubtless  take  the  most  comprehensive  precautions.  She 
should  hold  her  pecuniary  means  together  without  thinking  of 

[252] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
anything  to  be  undertaken  soon,  and  wait  patiently  and 
silently  until  she  heard  again  from  her  friend.  My  letter  was 
so  worded  that  she  could  undersfand  it,  while  it  would  not  be- 
tray my  intentions  if  it  fell  into  wrong  hands.  As  she  also 
was  familiar  with  my  handwriting,  I  signed  with  a  different 
name  and  directed  the  address  to  a  third  person  whom  she  had 
mentioned  to  me.  I  conceived  at  once  the  plan  to  get  secretly 
to  Bonn  for  the  purpose  of  talking  over  with  her  further  steps, 
instead  of  risking  such  communications  to  paper. 

Without  delay  I  began  my  preparations.  I  wrote  to  my 
cousin,  Heribert  Jiissen,  in  Lind,  near  Cologne,  whose  outward 
appearance  corresponded  in  all  essential  points  with  mine, 
asking  him  to  procure  from  the  police  a  traveling  passport 
in  his  name  and  to  send  it  to  me.  A  few  days  afterwards  the 
passport  was  in  my  hands,  and  now  I  could  like  an  ordinary 
unsuspected  mortal  travel  without  difficulty  wherever  I  was 
not  personally  known.  Then  I  gave  the  officers  of  our  club 
to  understand  that  I  was  ready  as  an  emissary  to  visit  various 
places  in  Germany  for  the  purpose  of  organizing  branch  clubs 
and  to  put  them  into  communication  with  our  committee  in 
Switzerland.  This  offer  was  received  with  great  favor,  and  I 
obtained,  together  with  minute  instructions,  a  long  list  of  per- 
sons in  Germany  who  could  be  depended  upon.  Of  course  of 
tny  real  plans  I  did  not  give  the  slightest  intimation.  All  was 
ready  for  my  departure,  and  as  I  went  on  a  secret  expedition 
as  an  emissary,  my  friends  found  it  quite  natural  that  about 
the  middle  of  March  I  should  suddenly  and  entirely  unnoticed 
disappear  from  Zurich. 


[253] 


CHAPTER    IX 

Ox  my  errand  I  had  to  pass  through  the  grand  duchy  of 
Baden,  and  saw  from  the  window  of  my  railroad  carriage  the 
castle  tower  of  Rastatt,  on  which  I  had  spent  so  many  an  hour. 
My  first  stopping  place  was  Frankfurt-on-the-Main,  where 
I  was  to  find  several  persons  who  had  been  designated  to  me 
by  the  directors  of  my  club  at  Zurich  as  worthy  of  confidence. 
From  them  I  obtained  various  information  about  the  condition 
of  things  in  the  western  and  middle  part  of  Germany,  and 
reported  back  what  I  learned  to  my  friends  in  Switzerland. 
In  general  I  faithfully  carried  out  the  instructions  which  I 
had  received  from  them,  and  succeeded  in  keeping  up  the  im- 
pression with  regard  to  the  object  of  my  journey  so  com- 
pletely that  not  one  of  my  Zurich  friends  suspected  me  in  the 
least  of  ulterior  designs.  Next  I  visited  a  number  of  cities, 
Wiesbaden,  Kreuznach,  Birkenfeld,  Trier,  where  I  found 
friends  of  our  cause  and  established  new  communications. 
There  were  still  among  them  people  who  hoped  to  bring  on 
new  revolutionary  upheavals  by  means  of  secret  conspira- 
cies. This  is  one  of  the  usual  afterthroes  of  miscarried  revo- 
lutionary movements.  I  traveled  down  the  Moselle  to  Coblenz, 
where  I  passed  a  quiet  day,  intending  to  take  the  night  mail 
coach  to  Bonn.  In  this  I  succeeded  without  trouble.  As  I 
approached  my  home,  however,  the  journey  became  more,  pre- 
carious. At  about  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  I  arrived  in 
Godesberg,  where  I  decided  to  leave  the  coach.  The  remainder 
of  the  way  to  Bonn  I  did  on  foot.  The  house  of  my  parents 
was  outside  of  the  city  on  the  Cobjenzer  Strasse,  and  I  reached 

[  254  ] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
it  by  three  o'clock  in  the  morning.  By  a  fortunate  accident  I 
still  possessed  the  latchkey  which  I  had  used  as  a  student,  and 
it  opened  the  back  door.  In  this  way  I  got  into  the  house  and 
soon  stood  in  the  bedroom  of  my  parents.  Both  were  sleeping 
profoundly.  After  having  sat  for  a  while  quietly  on  a  chair 
until  the  light  of  dawn  crept  in  through  the  windows  I  woke 
them  up.  Their  surprise  was  indescribable.  For  some  moments 
they  could  not  persuade  themselves  that  I  was  really  there. 
Then  their  astonishment  passed  into  the  liveliest  joy.  My 
mother  thought  that  I  looked  indeed  a  little  fatigued,  but 
otherwise  very  well.  At  once  she  would  see  to  the  breakfast. 
After  I  had  given  them  the  most  necessary  explanations  about 
my  sudden  appearance,  my  father,  who  was  beyond  measure 
proud  of  me,  wanted  to  know  whom  I  desired  to  see  in  the 
course  of  the  day.  I  had  hard  work  to  convince  him  that  above 
all  things  my  presence  must  be  kept  absolutely  secret,  and 
that  therefore  I  did  not  wish  to  come  into  contact  with  any- 
body except  the  most  trustworthy  intimates. 

Very  fortunately  it  so  happened  that  Frau  Johanna  Kin- 
kel  visited  my  parents  that  same  morning,  and  I  had  opportu- 
nity for  a  confidential  talk  with  her.  I  told  her  that  I  was 
ready  to  devote  myself  to  the  liberation  of  her  husband  if  she 
would  put  the  enterprise  entirely  into  my  hands,  speak  to 
nobody  about  it,  and  not  ask  me  for  more  information  than 
I  might  voluntarily  give  her.  With  touching  enthusiasm  she 
thanked  me  for  my  friendship  and  promised  everything.  After 
having  agreed  upon  what  was  at  the  time  to  be  done  or  to  be 
left  undone,  I  gave  her  a  receipt  for  a  magic  ink  which  I  had 
obtained  in  Zurich.  With  that  ink  our  correspondence  was 
to  be  carried  on.  It  was  simply  a  chemical  solution,  which,  when 
used  as  ink,  made  no  mark  on  the  paper.  A  letter  containing 
indifferent  subject-matter  was  to  be  written  over  this  in  or- 

[255] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
dinary  ink ;  the  person  receiving  the  letter  then  was  to  cover 
the  paper,  by  means  of  a  brush  or  sponge,  with  another  chem- 
ical solution,  which  made  what  had  been  written  in  ordinary 
ink  disappear.  Thereupon  the  paper  was  to  be  warmed  near 
a  stove  or  a  lamp  to  make  the  communication  written  with  the 
magic  ink  become  legible.  Kinkel's  eldest  son,  Gottfried,  at 
that  time  a  little  boy,  told  me  later  that  he  had  often  looked 
on  while  his  mother  washed  sheets  of  paper  and  then  dried 
them  near  the  stove. 

When  I  had  seen  Frau  Kinkel  my  most  important  busi- 
ness in  Bonn  was  finished  and  I  could  give  myself  for  some 
days,  or  so  long  as  I  could  hope  to  remain  undiscovered,  to 
the  joy  of  living  once  more  with  my  family.  With  some  of 
my  oldest  student  friends  I  came  together  in  the  rooms  of  one 
of  them,  and  there  I  met  also  a  young  student  of  medicine, 
Abraham  Jacobi.  Jacobi  was  a  zealous  democrat  who  after- 
wards won  in  America  a  great  name  for  himself  as  a  physician 
and  scientist — so  great,  indeed,  that  many  years  later,  when 
he  had  become  one  of  the  most  prominent  physicians  of 
America,  this  revolutionary  exile  was  distinguished  by  the 
university  of  Berlin  with  a  call  to  a  professorship.  His  invalu- 
able friendship  I  have  enjoyed  down  to  this  moment,  and  hope 
to  enjoy  it  to  the  last. 

In  the  darkness  of  night  I  went  out  to  take  my  accus- 
tomed walks  once  more;  and  on  one  of  those  nightly  expedi- 
tions I  could  not  refrain  from  passing  Betty's  window  in 
order,  perhaps,  to  catch  a  gleam  of  light  which  might  issue 
through  the  shutters ;  but  all  was  dark.  The  next  morning,  how- 
ever, I  received  more  than  an  accidental  gleam  of  light.  One 
of  my  best  friends,  who  also  knew  Betty,  came  to  the  house 
of  my  parents  bringing  a  bouquet  of  flowers.  "  This  bouquet," 
he  said  to  me,  "  is  sent  to  you  by  a  girl  whom  I  could  safely 

[256] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
tell  that  you  are  here."  I  blushed  over  and  over  in  accepting 
the  flowers  and  expressed  my  thanks.  I  put  no  further  ques- 
tions, for  I  did  not  doubt  who  the  girl  must  be. 

Before  many  days  the  number  of  my  friends  who  had 
been  informed  of  my  presence  was  so  large,  and  the  danger 
that  I  might  be  betrayed  by  some  accidental  conversation  be- 
tween them  became  so  great,  that  I  thought  it  necessary  to 
disappear.  In  response  to  my  request  my  cousin,  Heribert 
Jiissen,  whose  passport  and  name  I  bore,  came  to  Bonn  with 
his  vehicle  to  take  me  during  the  night  to  Cologne.  The  part- 
ing from  my  parents  and  sisters  was  very  sad,  but  after  all 
they  let  me  go  in  a  comparatively  cheerful  state  of  mind.  I 
left  with  them  the  same  impression  I  had  left  with  my  friends 
in  Switzerland — that  I  was  exclusively  engaged  in  business 
entrusted  to  me  in  Zurich.  But  we  often  talked  about  Kin- 
kel's  dreadful  lot,  and  my  parents  repeatedly  and  emphatically 
expressed  the  hope  that  someone  might  be  found  to  make  an 
attempt  to  rescue  him.  Although  they  probably  did  not  have 
me  in  mind  when  saying  this,  still  it  was  sufficient  to  convince 
me  that  they  would  approve  of  my  being  that  one.  When  I 
left  Bonn  nobody  knew  of  my  purpose  except  Frau  Kinkel. 

In  Cologne  I  found  quarters  in  the  upper  story  of  a 
restaurant  which  was  kept  by  a  zealous  democrat.  My  friend 
the  "  Red  Becker,"  the  democratic  editor,  was  there  my  spe- 
cial protector  and  confidant.  I  had  made  his  acquaintance  at 
the  university.  He  was  indeed  at  that  time  no  longer  a  student. 
His  examinations  he  had  passed  long  before,  but  he  was  fond 
of  visiting  his  Burschenschaft,  the  Allemania,  in  the  old  way; 
and  nobody  possessed  a  merrier  humor  and  a  more  inex- 
haustible sitting  power  at  the  convivial  meetings  than  he. 
Everybody  knew  and  loved  him.  His  nickname,  the  "  Red 
Becker,"  he  owed  to  a  peculiarity  of  appearance.  He  had  thin 

[257] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
gold-red  hair  and  a  thin  gold-red  beard;  he  also  suffered  from 
a  chronic  inflammation  of  his  eyelids  so  that  his  eyes  seemed 
to  have  been  framed  in  red.  Not  only  his  amiable  disposition 
and  his  bubbling  wit,  but  also  his  keen,  critical  mind  and  his 
comprehensive  knowledge  made  him  a  most  agreeable  and 
much-desired  companion.  Nobody  would  have  anticipated  at 
that  time  that  this  jolly  comrade  who  found  so  much  enjoy- 
ment in  continuing  his  university  life  beyond  the  ordinary 
measure  of  years,  and  who  had  already,  in  a  high  degree,  ac- 
quired the  oddities  of  an  incorrigible  student  loiterer,  would 
later  distinguish  himself  as  a  most  excellent  public  administra- 
tor, as  a  popular  burgomaster  of  Cologne,  and  as  a  member  of 
the  Prussian  House  of  Lords. 

We  had  become  close  friends  in  consequence  of  our  com- 
mon political  sympathies.  He  was  not  only  at  that  time  the 
editor  of  a  democratic  paper,  but  also  the  leader  of  the  demo- 
cratic club  in  Cologne,  and  I  could  safely  count  upon  it  that 
if  anybody  cherished  a  purpose  to  liberate  Kinkel  during  the 
impending  trial  for  the  Siegburg  affair,  he  would  certainly 
know  it  all.  Becker  told  me  with  the  utmost  frankness  what 
had  been  planned  and  that  all  the  world  talked  about  "  some- 
thing that  must  be  done."  It  became  clear  to  me  at  once  that 
if  all  the  world  talked  about  it,  an  attempt  could  not  possibly 
succeed,  and  I  was  rejoiced  to  hear  Becker  himself  share  this 
conviction.  Thus  I  was  satisfied  that  nothing  would  be  done  in 
Cologne  that  might  be  apt  to  render  later  attempts  more  diffi- 
cult of  success. 

The  secret  of  my  presence  in  Cologne  was  communicated 
to  my  nearest  friends  and  to  many  others  with  such  unconcern 
that  I  thought  it  was  time  to  leave.  Therefore  I  took  a  night 
train  by  way  of  Brussels  to  Paris.  My  intentions  with  regard 
to  Kinkel  I  had  confided  to  nobody  in  Cologne.  Becker  knew 

[258] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
no  more  than  that  I  had  gone  to  Paris  for  the  purpose  of 
putting  myself  into  communication  with  the  German  refugees 
living  there,  to  write  some  letters  about  the  situation  of  things 
in  the  French  capital  for  his  newspaper,  and  that  I  perhaps 
would  spend  some  time  in  historical  studies.  In  fact,  all  I  had 
in  view  was  to  sit  still  in  a  secure  place  until  the  trial  of  the 
Siegburg  affair,  with  all  its  excitements,  was  over,  and  Kinkel 
had  been  transported  back  to  Naugard  or  to  some  other  peni- 
tentiary, so  that  I  might  find  him  fixed  at  a  certain  place,  and 
there  begin  my  venturesome  work. 

Some  impressions  I  received  on  the  day  of  my  arrival 
in  Paris  will  always  remain  indelible  in  my  mind.  I  was 
well  versed  in  the  recent  history  of  France  with  its  world-mov- 
ing revolutionary  events.  Since  the  days  of  March,  1848,  I 
had  studied  them  with  especial  interest,  hoping  thus  to  learn 
more  clearly  to  judge  what  was  passing  in  my  own  surround- 
ings, and  now  I  had  arrived  at  the  theater  of  these  great  revo- 
lutionary actions  in  which  the  elementary  forces  of  society  in 
wild  explosions  had  demolished  the  old  and  opened  the  way  to 
the  new  order  of  things.  From  the  railway  station  I  went 
to  the  nearest  little  hotel,  and  soon,  map  in  hand,  I  set  out  to 
explore  the  city.  Eagerly  I  read  the  names  of  the  streets  on 
the  corners.  Here  they  were,  then,  those  battlefields  of  the 
new  era,  which  my  excited  imagination  peopled  at  once  with 
historic  figures — here  the  Square  of  the  Bastile,  where  the 
people  won  their  first  victory — there  the  Temple,  where  the 
royal  family  had  been  imprisoned;  there  the  Faubourg  Saint- 
Antoine,  which  on  the  days  of  great  decision  had  sent  the 
masses  of  the  Blousemen  upon  the  barricades  into  the  bloody 
conflict;  there  the  Carre  Saint-Martin,  where  the  first  barri- 
cades of  the  February  rising  had  been  raised;  there  the  Hotel 
de  Ville,  where  the  commune  had  sat  and  where  Robespierre 

[259] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
with  a  bloody  head  had  lain  upon  the  table;  there  the  Palais 
Royal  where  Camille  Desmoulins,  standing  upon  a  chair,  had 
fulminated  his  fiery  speech  and  stuck  a  green  leaf  as  a  cockade 
on  his  hat;  there  the  Place  de  la  Concorde,  where  on  the 
10th  of  August  the  royal  power  of  Louis  XVI.  fell  into  the 
dust. 

Thus  I  wandered  about  for  several  hours  as  if  entranced, 
when  at  a  shop  window  I  heard  two  men  speaking  German 
together.  This  woke  me  out  of  my  reverie,  and  it  occurred  to 
me  that  it  was  time  to  look  up  the  German  refugees  whose 
addresses  I  possessed.  I  therefore  accosted  the  German-speak- 
ing men  and  asked  them  where  I  could  find  a  certain  street. 
I  received  a  polite  response  and  found  myself  soon  in  the  room 
of  a  friend  whose  acquaintance  I  had  made  in  the  Palatinate 
— the  Saxon  refugee  Zychlinski.  He  procured  for  me  a  fur- 
nished room  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Church  Saint-Eus- 
tache  and  instructed  me  quickly  in  the  art  of  living  in  Paris 
on  little  money. 

My  sojourn  in  the  French  capital  lasted  about  four  weeks. 
My  first  care  was  to  practice  myself  in  the  language  of  the 
country.  I  had  appreciated  already  in  Brussels  that  the  in- 
struction in  French  which  I  had  received  at  the  gymnasium 
hardly  enabled  me  to  order  a  breakfast.  Now  I  began  at  once 
with  a  pocket  dictionary  in  hand  to  read  newspapers,  including 
the  advertisements,  and  then  to  avail  myself  of  every  opportu- 
nity to  put  the  words  and  phrases  I  had  thus  learned  to  use 
in  conversation  with  the  concierge  of  my  house  or  the  waiter  at 
the  restaurant  or  with  anybody  who  would  listen  to  me.  After 
a  few  days  I  found  that  I  could  get  along  measurably  well 
as  to  the  everyday  requirements  of  life.  I  did  not  make  any 
important  acquaintances  in  Paris  at  that  time.  Indeed  I  saw 
the  leading  men  of  the  legislative  bodies,  but  only  from  the 

[260] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
distance  of  the  gallery.  Fellow-refugees  brought  me  into  con- 
tact with  some  Frenchmen  who  belonged  to  the  extreme  revo- 
lutionary class.  From  them  I  heard  little  more  than  the 
ordinary  tirades  against  Louis  Napoleon,  who  at  that  time  was 
still  president  of  the  republic,  but  who  gave  significant  indi- 
cations of  ulterior  ambitions.  In  the  circles  in  which  I  moved 
it  was  regarded  as  certain  that  this  "  Napoleonic  business  " 
could  not  possibly  last  long  and  that  the  new  revolution  doing 
away  with  the  president  would  inevitably  spread  over  the  larger 
part  of  Europe.  Although  I  took  all  possible  pains  to  form 
a  sober  and  impartial  judgment  of  the  condition  of  things  in 
France,  reading  attentively  to  this  end  the  journals  of  all 
parties,  my  conclusions  did  not  escape  from  the  influence  of 
my  wishes  and  illusions.  If  I  should  now  in  the  light  of  his- 
torical events  see  again  the  letters  which  then  I  wrote  in  good 
faith  as  correspondent  of  Becker's  newspaper,  the  reading 
would  not  be  welcome.  The  errors  of  judgment  which  I  then 
committed  and  which  in  less  than  two  years  I  learned  correctly 
to  estimate,  have  been  to  me  a  lasting  and  salutary  lesson.  A 
large  part  of  my  time  I  spent  in  studying  the  treasures  of 
art  collected  in  Paris,  which  opened  to  me  a  world  of  charming 
vistas. 

I  remember  an  occurrence  which,  although  unimportant 
in  itself,  has  frequently  in  later  times  risen  up  in  my  mind  and 
set  me  to  thinking.  I  was  in  the  habit  of  meeting  Zychlinski 
and  some  other  Germans  in  a  certain  Quartier  Latin  cafe. 
One  evening  I  failed  to  find  my  friend  there.  This  was  espe- 
cially disagreeable  to  me,  for  I  had  wished  to  ask  Zychlinski 
to  lend  me  some  money.  A  remittance  due  me  from  Becker 
had  not  come,  and  all  the  change  in  my  pocket  consisted  of  a 
few  sous,  which  were  sufficient  only  for  a  cup  of  coffee  and  the 
tip  to  the  waiter.  I  sat  down  and  ordered  my  cup  as  usual, 

[261] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
with  the  confident  expectation  that  either  one  or  the  other  of 
my  friends  would  soon  appear.  I  drank  my  coffee  as  slowly  as 
possible,  but  when  I  had  emptied  the  cup  not  one  of  my  ex- 
pected friends  was  there.  I  put  the  remainder  of  my  sugar 
into  a  glass  of  water,  and  prepared  my  "  eau-sucre  "  in  the 
manner  of  the  thrifty  guests  of  the  French  cafes.  I  read  one 
journal  after  another,  sipping  my  sugar- water  with  painful 
slowness,  but  nobody  came.  I  may  have  sat  there  more  than 
two  hours  and  it  began  to  be  very  late.  The  "  dame  du  comp- 
toir,"  to  whom  payment  was  made,  yawned,  and  even  Monsieur 
Louis,  the  attendant  of  the  billiard  table,  who  for  more  than 
an  hour  had  been  unoccupied,  became  sleepy.  I  still  see  the 
amiable  Monsieur  Louis  before  me,  from  time  to  time  rolling 
the  ivory  balls  on  the  billiard  table  with  his  finger  from  one 
spot  to  another  and  then  looking  at  me.  I  felt  as  if  both  had 
become  annoyed  at  the  long  time  that  I  devoted  to  my  cup 
of  coffee.  So  I  resolved  to  pay  with  my  last  sous  and  to  go 
home.  But  when  I  got  up  from  my  chair  an  accident  hap- 
pened. By  an  awkward  movement  I  pushed  the  coffee  cup 
off  the  little  table  upon  the  marble  floor,  and  it  broke  into  many 
pieces.  I  thought  that  as  a  matter  of  course  I  must  pay  for  the 
broken  cup.  I  had  money  enough  for  the  coffee,  but  not  for  the 
broken  cup.  The  dame  du  comptoir  exchanged  glances  with 
Monsieur  Louis.  Those  glances  darted  into  the  depth  of  my 
guilty  conscience.  What  should  I  do?  At  this  moment  several 
new  guests  came  in,  French  students,  of  whom  two  or  three 
began  to  joke  with  the  dame  du  comptoir.  Could  I  now  step 
into  this  group  and  in  my  clumsy  French  make  to  the  Dame 
du  Comptoir  a  confession  of  my  embarrassment?  Would  I 
not  expose  myself  to  the  laughter  of  the  whole  company?  In 
the  excitement  of  the  moment  I  recklessly  resolved  to  order 
another  cup  of  coffee,  taking  a  last  chance  of  my  friends  still 

[262] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
turning  up.  I  waited  long,  but  not  in  vain.  Zychlinski  really 
came.  The  terrible  burden  fell  from  my  soul.  I  had  to  restrain 
myself  not  to  cry  out  for  delight.  I  told  him  my  story,  and 
we  laughed  heartily  about  it,  but  with  all  this  I  did  not  feel 
at  ease.  Zychlinski  lent  me  the  needed  money,  but  when  I  got 
up  to  leave  and  asked  the  dame  du  comptoir  how  much  I 
owed  for  the  broken  cup,  she  replied  with  a  gracious  con- 
descending smile  that  in  this  cafe  no  payment  was  ever  ac- 
cepted for  accidentally  broken  crockery.  My  anguish  had 
therefore  been  altogether  superfluous.  When  I  returned  to 
my  quarters  I  found  a  letter  from  Becker  containing  the  de- 
layed check. 

This  little  adventure  has  in  later  life  frequently  come  to 
my  mind  again.  As  a  result  of  my  ruminations  I  give  to  those 
who  read  this  story  the  serious  advice  not  to  follow  my  ex- 
ample under  similar  circumstances  and  never  to  add  to  one 
obligation  an  unnecessary  new  one,  trusting  to  a  happy  chance 
for  payment.  It  was  a  cause  of  that  false  pride  which  has  led 
Sjo  many  men,  originally  honest,  down  the  inclined  plane  of 
mischief.  Many  a  man  has  gone  to  destruction  for  not  having 
the  moral  courage  to  face  embarrassing  situations  or  on  occa- 
sion frankly  to  confess :  "  I  have  not  money  enough  to  do 
that  which  others  do." 

While  I  was  in  Paris  the  trial  of  the  participants  in  the 
Siegburg  affair  took  place  in  Cologne.  At  an  early  hour  on 
the  10th  day  of  April,  Kinkel  left  the  penitentiary  at  Naugard 
accompanied  by  three  police  officers  and  arrived  in  Cologne 
on  the  13th.  On  the  journey,  which  was  made  in  great  secrecy, 
he  was  permitted  to  wear  an  ordinary  overcoat  and  a  little 
black  hat,  but  as  soon  as  he  arrived  in  the  penitentiary  in 
Cologne  he  had  to  don  the  penitentiary  garb  again.  A  few 
days  later  Frau  Kinkel  was  permitted  to  see  her  husband  in 

[263] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
the  prison,  but  only  in  the  presence  of  the  turnkeys.  She  took 
with  her  her  six-year-old  Gottfried,  who  did  not  recognize  his 
father  with  his  closely  clipped  hair,  his  drawn  features,  and 
his  convict  dress,  until  he  heard  his  voice. 

The  public  trial  before  a  jury  of  burghers  opened  on  the 
29th  of  April.  Ten  persons  were  accused  "  of  an  attempt 
to  upset  the  present  constitution  of  the  kingdom,  to  excite 
the  citizens  or  inhabitants  of  the  state  to  sedition,  to  arm  them- 
selves against  the  royal  authority,  and  to  bring  about  a  civil 
war  by  arming  the  citizens  or  inhabitants  of  the  state  against 
one  another,  or  by  inciting  them  so  to  arm  themselves."  Of 
the  defendants,  four  were  present,  six  having  fled  the  kingdom, 
of  whom  I  was  one. 

The  population  of  Cologne  was  in  feverish  excitement. 
The  court  house  was  surrounded  by  an  immense  multitude 
eager  to  see  Kinkel  and  to  manifest  their  sympathy  for  him, 
the  captive  defender  of  liberty,  the  poet  condemned  to  the  peni- 
tentiary. The  authorities  had  taken  the  most  extensive  meas- 
ures to  prevent  any  possibility  of  his  being  liberated.  The  car- 
riage in  which  Kinkel  rode  from  the  prison  to  the  court  house 
was  surrounded  by  a  strong  force  of  cavalry  with  drawn  sa- 
bers. The  streets  he  passed  through,  as  well  as  all  the  ap- 
proaches to  the  court  house,  were  bristling  with  bayonets.  On 
the  court  house  square  stood  two  cannon  with  an  ammuni- 
tion wagon,  and  the  artillerymen  ready  for  action.  When  Kin- 
kel appeared  he  was,  in  spite  of  all  this,  received  by  the  as- 
sembled multitude  with  thundering  cheers.  He  had  again  been 
pirt  into  ordinary  citizen's  dress.  On  the  way  he  appeared 
stolid  and  impassive.  The  aspect  and  the  acclaim  of  the  people 
revived  him.  Boldly  and  proudly  he  lifted  up  his  closely 
clipped  head  as  he  strode  from  the  carriage  between  lines  of 
soldiers  into  the  hall  of  justice.  There  his  wife  had,  early  in 

[264] 


% 

THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
the  morning,  secured  a  place  which  she  continued  to  occupy 
every  day  throughout  the  trial.  The  public  prosecutor  moved 
in  Kinkel's  case  the  penalty  of  death.  The  testimony  of  the 
various  witnesses  brought  out  the  facts  of  the  case  as  they  were 
generally  known ;  the  public  prosecutor,  as  well  as  the  attorneys 
of  the  defendants,  pleaded  their  causes  with  coolness  and  skill. 
My  friend  and  fellow-student,  Ludwig  Meyer,  made  a  manly 
speech  in  his  own  defense,  and  at  last,  on  the  2d  of  May,  Kin- 
kel  himself  asked  to  be  heard. 

The  assembled  audience,  aye,  the  whole  nation,  were  in 
a  state  of  anxious  expectancy.  People  asked  one  another: 
"  What  will  he  say?  Will  he  humiliate  himself,  and  bow  his 
head  like  a  penitent  sinner?  Will  he  present  the  picture  of  a 
broken  and  thenceforth  harmless  man  in  order  to  purchase 
grace?  Or  will  he  defy  those  in  power  by  maintaining  all  his 
former  professions,  by  standing  by  what  he  has  said  and  done, 
and  thereby  forfeit  the  last  claim  to  a  mitigation  of  his  awful 
lot?  "  The  grievously  suffering  man  would  probably  have  been 
forgiven  by  public  opinion  had  he  by  a  yielding  attitude  sought 
an  alleviation  of  his  misery. 

Kinkel's  speech  in  his  own  defense  was  a  full  answer  to 
all  these  questions,  in  the  highest  degree  imposing,  and  touching 
at  the  same  time.  He  began  with  a  concise  description  of  the 
public  situation  in  Germany  after  the  revolution  in  March, 
1848.  "  The  people,"  he  said,  "  had  then  won  their  sovereignty. 
This  sovereignty  of  the  people  had  been  embodied  in  the  con- 
stituent assemblies  elected  by  universal  suffrage — in  the  Prus- 
sian assembly  in  Berlin,  as  well  as  in  the  national  parliament 
in  Frankfurt.  It  had  so  been  understood  by  all  the  world.  The 
national  parliament  had  proceeded  with  signal  moderation;  it 
had  created  a  magna  charta  of  popular  rights  in  a  constitu- 
tion for  the  empire,  and  it  had  elected  as  the  head  of  the  em- 

[265] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
pire  and  the  protector  of  that  magna  charta  the  king  of  Prus- 
sia, the  same  king  who  on  the  18th  of  March  had  put  himself 
at  the  head  of  the  movement  for  German  unity  and  freedom. 
The  realization  of  this  idea  had  been  the  great  hope  of  the  na- 
tion. But  the  king  of  Prussia  had  refused  to  complete  the 
work  of  national  unity  by  declining  the  imperial  crown.  He 
had  dissolved  the  Prussian  constituent  assembly,  which  had 
urged  him  to  accept  the  charge,  and  thereby  annihilated  the 
possibility  of  an  agreement  with  the  people,  and  with  it  also 
all  hope  of  the  accomplishment  of  social  reforms.  Then  noth- 
ing had  remained  but  an  appeal  to  arms.  He  too,  the  accused, 
had  taken  up  his  musket,  and  he  declared  now  in  the  presence 
of  his  judges  his  belief  that  he  had  done  right.  He  stood  to-day 
by  the  acts  he  had  committed  in  the  preceding  May.  What 
he  had  done,  he  had  done  as  a  patriot  and  a  man  of  honor." 
He  went  still  farther  in  his  avowal.  He  called  himself  a  so- 
cialist— although  in  the  now-accepted  party  sense  Kinkel  had 
really  never  been  that.  He  had  never  been  an  adherent  of  any 
of  those  systems  which  contemplate  a  complete  subversion  of 
the  traditional  institutions  of  society.  When  he  called  himself 
a  socialist  he  meant  only  that,  as  he  said,  "  his  heart  was  always 
with  the  poor  and  oppressed  of  the  people,  and  not  with  the 
rich  and  powerful  of  this  world."  He  expressed,  therefore, 
only  those  sympathies  which  had  taken  possession  of  so  many 
hearts,  and  in  order  to  designate  them  he  chose  the  name  of 
socialist  because  it  was  nearest  at  hand.  "  And  because  I  am 
a  socialist,"  Kinkel  continued,  "  therefore  I  am  a  democrat,  for 
I  believe  that  only  the  people  themselves  can  feel  their  own 
deep  wounds  and  cleanse  and  heal  them.  But  because  I  am  a 
democrat,  because  I  consider  the  democratic  state  as  the  only; 
and  certain  possibility  to  banish  misery  from  the  world,  there- 
fore I  also  believe  that  when  a  people  have  once  won  demo- 

[266] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
cratic  institutions  they  have  not  only  the  right,  but  also  the 
duty  to  defend  those  institutions  to  the  last  with  all  means 
within  their  reach,  even  with  musket  and  pointed  steel.  In  this 
sense  I  profess  to  accept  the  principle  of  revolution  for  which 
my  own  blood  has  flowed,  and  even  to-day,  wholly  in  the  power 
of  my  adversaries,  I  confess  with  the  pale  lips  of  the  prisoner 
that  this  principle  is  mine.  And  therefore  I  also  believe  that 
together  with  the  friends  at  my  side  I  was  right  when  I  took 
up  the  battle  and  offered  to  my  principles  the  highest  sacri- 
fice. A  high  aim  was  before  our  eyes.  Had  we  conquered  we 
would  have  saved  to  our  people  peace  within  itself;  the  unity 
of  the  Fatherland,  this  fundamental  idea  of  the  German  revo- 
lution, and  with  it  the  key  to  all  future  developments  of  pros- 
perity and  greatness.  Gentlemen,  we  have  not  conquered.  The 
people  have  not  carried  this  struggle  through,  but  have  aban- 
doned us,  us  who  advanced  in  the  lead.  The  consequences  fall 
upon  our  heads." 

Now  he  declared  how  in  this  struggle  he  had  not  hesitated 
to  associate  himself  with  persons  without  education  and  even 
of  doubtful  repute.  "  For,"  he  said,  "  no  great  idea  had  ever 
been  disgraced  because  the  populace  and  the  publicans  accepted 
it."  Then  he  explained  how  the  penal  provisions  of  the  Code 
Napoleon,  which  was  still  the  law  in  the  Rhineland,  could  not 
be  applied  to  the  public  conditions  of  1848;  that  this  code 
had  been  designed  for  an  absolute  military  monarchy;  that 
after  the  revolution  the  Germans  were  entitled  to  arm  them- 
selves as  a  people  with  free  choice  of  their  leaders — and  this 
for  the  purpose  of  enabling  the  people  to  protect  their  rights 
against  encroachments.  "  We  are  told  that  we  attempted  to 
subvert  the  existing  constitution  of  the  kingdom.  What  con- 
stitution is  meant?  The  new  Prussian?  Who  ever  thought  of 
that?  Or  the  Frankfurt  national  constitution?  To  protect  this 

[267] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL   SCHURZ 
we  took  up  arms.  Upon  your  conscience,  gentlemen,  are  we 
the  men  that  made  attempts  upon  that  constitution?  But  we 
are  charged  to  have  incited  civil  war.  Who  dares  to  assert 
this?  Who  will  deny  that  in  the  face  of  the  uprising  of  the  whole 
people  in  arms,  a  grand  solemn  uprising,  the  crown  would  have 
been  urged  upon  the  path  of  progress,  without  civil  war? 
Yes,  if  all  were  true  that  is  asserted  in  the  indictment,  if  we 
had  really  conspired  to  oppose  force  to  force,  if  we  had  armed 
ourselves  to  storm  an  armory,  if  we  had  put  arms  into  the 
hands  of  citizens  for  such  an  enterprise,  even  then,  yes,  even 
then,  we  would,  after  a  defeat,  be  only  unfortunates,  but  not 
punishable  culprits.  We  would  have  done  it,  not  to  destroy  a 
constitution,  but  to  support  one  that  was  attacked;  we  would 
have  done  it  not  to  incite  civil  war,  but  to  prevent  civil  war, 
that  horrible  civil  war,  which  drove  the  Landwehr  of  Iserlohn 
into  the  deadly  fire  of  the  German  riflemen  on  the  tower  of 
Durlach,  that  condemned,  in  consequence,  Dortu  to  be  shot 
and  Corvin  to  penal  labor.  What  has  become  of  the  Father- 
land now  that  we  have  not  conquered?  That  you  know.  But 
if  we  had  conquered  in  this  struggle,  before  God,  gentlemen, 
instead  of  the  guillotine  with  which  the  prosecuting  attorney 
threatens  us,  according  to  the  law  of  the  French  tyrant,  we 
would  receive  from  you  to-day  the  civic  crown."  This  part 
of  his  speech  was  heard  by  all  those  assembled  in  the  hall  with 
astonishment  and  by  many  with  admiration.  The  presiding 
officer  found  it  difficult  to  suppress  the  storm  of  applause 
which  at  times  would  break  out,  but  everybody  felt  that  this 
accused  man  who  faced  so  boldly  and  proudly  those  in  power, 
even  if  he  escaped  a  new  sentence,  had  now  forfeited  all  hope 
for  a  mitigation  of  the  punishment  already  imposed  upon  him. 
But  what  now  followed   overwhelmed  the  audience  to  an  un- 
expected degree.  In  a  few  sentences  Kinkel  pointed  out  the 

[268] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
contradictions  and  weak  points  in  the  testimony  of  the  wit- 
nesses, and  then  he  continued: 

"  The  only  thing  that  remains  is  that  I  have  incited  citi- 
zens to  take  up  arms.  I  will  tell  you  how  this  incitement  came 
about.  I  am  glad  to  tell  you,  because  in  my  action  there  is  only 
one  thing  that  might  appear  ambiguous,  and  that  is,  that  I 
endeavored  rather  to  dissuade  others  from  the  enterprise 
which  I  myself  undertook.  With  perfect  clearness  that  10th 
of  May  still  stands  before  my  mind,  for  that  day  on  which  I,  a 
happy  man,  took  leave  of  all  the  happiness  of  my  life,  has 
etched  itself  into  my  soul  with  burning  needles  of  pain.  The 
strain  and  stress  of  that  time  tore  piece  after  piece  from  my 
heart ;  but  at  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  I  had  not  yet  formed 
a  final  resolution.  I  went  to  the  university.  I  delivered  my 
lecture  with  quiet  composure.  It  was  my  last.  At  six  o'clock 
arrived  the  tidings  from  Elberfeld  and  Diisseldorf.  They 
struck  hot  fire  into  my  breast.  I  felt  that  the  hour  had  come 
for  me  when  honor  commanded  to  act.  From  the  meeting  of 
citizens  I  went  to  my  dwelling  to  say  farewell.  I  took  leave 
of  the  peace  of  my  house ;  of  the  office  which  for  twelve  years 
had  made  me  happy,  and  which  I  believe  I  had  faithfully  admin- 
istered; leave  of  my  wife,  for  whose  possession  I  had  already 
once  risked  my  life ;  leave  of  my  sleeping  children,  who  did  not 
dream  that  in  this  hour  they  lost  their  father.  But  when  I 
crossed  my  threshold  and  stepped  into  the  darkening  street,  then 
I  said  to  myself,  '  You  have  taken  this  resolution  prepared  for 
whatever  may  follow;  for  you  know  what  the  consequences 
may  be.  You  will  always  have  the  consolation  of  the  ideas  and 
convictions  you  cherish.  You  have  no  right  to  persuade  an- 
other husband,  another  father,  to  the  same  terrible  decision.' 
In  this  state  of  mind  I  mounted  the  platform  of  the  citizens' 
meeting;  and  I  warned  every  one  of  my  hearers  whose  heart 

[269] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
was  not  firm  like  mine — and  out  of  this  speech  the  public  prose- 
cutor makes  an  incitement  to  revolt!  Do  not  think,  gentle- 
men, that  I  wish  to  appeal  to  your  emotions  and  to  awaken 
your  pity.  Yes,  I  know  it,  and  the  '  acts  of  grace '  of  the 
year  1849  have  taught  me  that  your  verdict  of  guilty  means 
a  sentence  of  death;  but  in  spite  of  this,  I  do  not  want  your 
compassion;  not  for  my  fellow-defendants,  for  to  them  you 
owe  not  pity,  but  satisfaction  for  the  long  and  undeserved 
imprisonment;  not  for  me,  for  however  inestimable  your  sym- 
pathy as  citizens  and  men  may  be  to  me,  your  compassion  for 
me  would  have  no  value.  The  sufferings  I  have  to  bear  are 
so  terrible  that  your  verdict  can  have  no  added  terrors  for 
me.  Beyond  the  measure  of  the  punishment  at  first  imposed 
upon  me,  the  authorities  have  increased  mine  by  the  horrible 
solitude  of  the  isolated  cell,  the  desolate  stillness,  in  which  no 
trumpet  call  of  the  struggling  outside  world  will  penetrate, 
and  no  loving  look  of  faithful  friends.  They  have  condemned 
a  German  poet  and  teacher  who  in  more  than  one  breast  has 
lighted  the  flame  of  knowledge  and  beauty,  they  have  con- 
demned a  heart  full  of  sympathy  slowly  to  die  in  soulless 
mechanical  labor,  in  denial  of  all  mental  atmosphere.  The 
murderer,  the  lowest,  most  hideous  criminal,  is  permitted  as 
soon  as  the  word  of  grace  and  pardon  has  descended  upon  him 
to  breathe  the  air  of  his  Rhenish  home,  to  drink  the  water 
of  his  beloved  river.  The  fourteen  days  I  have  been  here  have 
taught  me  how  much  consolation  there  is  in  the  air  and  light 
of  the  homeland.  But  I  am  kept  in  the  far-away  gloomy 
north,  and  not  even  behind  the  iron  bars  of  my  prison  I  am 
allowed  to  see  the  tears  of  my  wife,  to  look  into  the  bright  eyes 
of  my  children.  I  do  not  ask  for  your  commiseration,  for  how- 
ever bloody  this  law  may  be  you  cannot  make  my  lot  more  ter- 
rible than  it  is.  The  man  whom  the  public  prosecutor  has  in- 

[270] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
sinuatingly  dared  to  accuse  of  cowardice  has  in  this  last  year 
looked  death  in  its  various  forms  into  the  eyes  so  often,  so 
nearly,  so  calmly,  that  even  the  prospect  of  the  guillotine  can 
no  longer  shake  him.  I  do  not  want  your  compassion,  but  I 
insist  upon  my  right.  My  right  I  put  upon  your  consciences, 
and  because  I  know  that  you  citizens,  jurymen,  will  not  deny 
this  right  to  your  Rhenish  compatriot.  Therefore  I  expect 
with  quiet  confidence  from  your  lips  the  verdict  of  not  guilty. 
I  have  spoken;  now  it  is  for  you  to  judge!  " 

The  impression  produced  by  these  words  has  been  de* 
scribed  to  me  by  eyewitnesses.  At  first  the  audience  listened  in 
breathless  silence,  but  before  long  the  judges  upon  the  bench, 
the  jurors,  the  densely  crowded  citizens  in  the  hall,  the  prose- 
cuting attorney  who  had  conducted  the  case,  the  police  officers 
who  watched  the  accused,  the  soldiers  whose  bayonets  gleamed 
about  the  door,  burst  out  in  sobs  and  tears.  It  took  several 
minutes  after  Kinkel  concluded  his  speech  before  the  presid- 
ing judge  found  his  voice  again.  At  last  the  case  was  given  to 
the  jury.  The  jury  instantly  returned  a  verdict  of  "  Not 
guilty."  Then  a  thundering  cheer  broke  forth  in  the  hall,  which 
was  taken  up  by  the  multitude  outside  and  resounded  in  the 
streets  far  into  the  city.  Frau  Kinkel  pressed  through  the 
crowd  to  her  husband.  A  police  officer  ordered  his  subordinates 
who  surrounded  Kinkel  to  hold  her  back,  but  Kinkel,  rising 
to  his  full  height,  cried  out  with  a  commanding  voice,  "  Come, 
Johanna!  Give  your  husband  a  kiss.  Nobody  shall  forbid 
you."  As  if  yielding  to  a  higher  power  the  police  officers 
stepped  back  and  made  way  for  the  wife,  who  threw  herself 
into  her  husband's  arms. 

The  other  defendants  were  now  free  to  go  home;  only 
Kinkel,  still  under  the  former  sentence  imposed  upon  him 
by    the    court-martial    in    Baden,    was    again    quickly    sur- 

[271] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
rounded  by  his  guards,  taken  to  the  carriage  amid  the  resound- 
ing acclamations  of  the  people  and  the  rolling  of  the  drums 
of  the  soldiers,  and  carried  back  to  the  jail. 

As  was  to  be  expected,  the  authorities  had  taken  every 
possible  measure  to  prevent  an  attempt  to  liberate  Kinkel  in 
Cologne.  The  government  had  meanwhile  also  resolved  not 
to  take  him  back  to  the  penitentiary  at  Naugard,  but  to  im- 
prison him  in  Spandau,  probably  because  in  Naugard  warm 
sympathies  with  the  sufferer  had  manifested  themselves. 
*To  mislead  Kinkel's  friends  and  to  avoid  all  difficulties  on 
the  way,  he  was  not,  as  generally  expected  by  the  public,  trans- 
ported by  rail,  but  in  a  coach,  accompanied  by  two  police 
officers.  The  departure  took  place  on  the  day  after  the  trial  in 
all  secrecy,  but  just  these  arrangements  had  made  possible 
an  attempt  at  escape  which  Kinkel  undertook  of  his  own  mo- 
tion and  without  help  from  the  outside,  and  which  he  narrated 
to  me  later  as  follows: 

One  evening  the  police  officers  stopped  the  coach  at  a  way- 
side tavern  of  a  Westphalian  village  where  they  intended  to 
take  supper.  Kinkel  was  placed  in  a  room  in  the  upper  story, 
where  one  officer  remained  with  him,  while  the  other  went  down 
to  make  some  arrangements.  Kinkel  noticed  that  the  door  of 
the  room  was  left  ajar  and  that  the  key  was  in  the  lock  outside. 
The  idea  to  take  advantage  of  this  circumstance  occurred  to 
him  instantly.  Standing  near  the  window  he  directed  the  at- 
tention of  the  police  officer  who  guarded  him,  sitting  near  the 
door,  to  a  noise  outside  on  the  street.  As  soon  as  the  police 
officer  stepped  to  the  window,  Kinkel  sprang  with  a  rapid 
jump  through  the  door  and  turned  the  key  in  the  lock  outside. 
Then  he  ran  as  fast  as  he  could  down  the  stairs  through  the 
back  door  into  the  yard,  into  the  kitchen  garden,  and  in  the 
direction  that  was  open  to  him,  into  the  fields.  Soon  the  fugi- 

[  272'  ] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
tive  heard  voices  behind  him  and  turning  saw  lights  in  the 
distance  moving  to  and  fro.  He  ran  with  furious  speed, 
spurred  on  by  the  pursuit,  which  was  evidently  at  his  heels. 
Suddenly  he  struck  his  forehead  against  a  hard  object  and 
fell  down  stunned. 

The  pursuers  also  had  their  difficulties.  The  police  officer 
who  had  been  in  the  room  with  Kinkel  jumped  for  the  door, 
and  finding  it  locked,  he  hurried  back  to  the  window,  which  in 
the  excitement  of  the  moment  he  did  not  succeed  in  opening 
quickly.  He  smashed  it  with  his  fist  and  shouted  into  the  street 
that  the  "  rogue  "  had  escaped.  The  whole  house  was  promptly 
alarmed;  the  police  officers  told  the  servants  that  the  fugitive 
was  one  of  the  most  dangerous  criminals  of  the  Rhineland,  and 
offered  a  reward  of  at  least  a  hundred  thalers  for  his  capture. 
Of  course,  the  village  folk  believed  all  they  were  told.  The 
postilion  who  had  driven  the  coach,  not  suspecting  that  his 
passenger  was  Kinkel,  showed  himself  especially  active.  At 
once  lanterns  were  brought  to  look  for  the  tracks  of  the  fugi- 
tive. The  postilion  soon  discovered  them,  but  Kinkel  had 
gained  considerable  headway  by  these  delays,  and  only  his 
running  against  a  pile  of  wood,  a  projecting  log  of  which 
struck  his  forehead,  had  neutralized  this  advantage.  In  less 
than  a  quarter  of  an  hour  he  was  in  his  benumbed  condition 
discovered  by  the  postilion,  who  really  believed  that  he  had  be- 
fore him  an  escaped  highwayman,  and  soon  the  police  officers, 
hurrying  on,  again  laid  their  hands  upon  him.  These  now  re- 
doubled their  watchfulness  until  finally  the  door  of  the  peni- 
tentiary of  Spandau  closed  upon  the  unfortunate  man. 

When  the  excitement  caused  by  the  trial  in  Cologne  had 
subsided,  and  Kinkel,  sitting  quietly  in  the  Spandau  peniten- 
tiary, had  temporarily  ceased  to  occupy  public  attention  in  an 
extraordinary  degree,  I  left  Paris  for  Germany.  I  had  in  the 

[  273  ] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
meantime  received  new  instructions  from  the  Zurich  commit- 
tee which  I  faithfully  carried  out.  To  this  end  I  visited  sev- 
eral places  in  the  Rhineland  and  in  Westphalia,  and  even 
attended  a  meeting  of  democratic  leaders  which  took  place  in 
July  in  Braunschweig,  where  I  hoped  to  establish  useful  con- 
nections. There  I  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  Mecklenburg 
deputy,  Moritz  Wiggers,  with  whom  soon  I  was  to  have  very 
interesting  transactions. 

At  the  beginning  of  August  I  returned  to  Cologne,  where 
I  had  another  meeting  with  Frau  Kinkel.  She  reported  that 
the  sum  collected  for  the  liberation  of  her  husband  had  grown 
considerably,  and  I  was  rejoiced  to  hear  that  it  was  sufficient 
to  justify  the  beginning  of  active  work.  We  agreed  that  the 
money  should  be  sent  to  a  confidential  person  in  Berlin  from 
whom  I  might  receive  it  according  to  my  requirements.  Frau 
Kinkel  also  told  me  that  she  had  found  a  method  to  convey 
to  Kinkel  information  in  a  manner  not  likely  to  excite  sus- 
picion, if  anything  were  undertaken  in  his  behalf.  She  had 
written  to  him  about  her  musical  studies  and  put  into  her  let- 
ters long  "explanations  about  the  word  "  fuge."  Kinkel  had 
made  her  understand  by  words  which  were  unintelligible  to 
the  officers  who  reviewed  his  letters,  that  he  appreciated  the 
significance  of  the  word  "  fuge,"  Latin,  "  fuga,"  English, 
"  flight,"  and  that  he  was  anxious  to  correspond  more  with 
her  upon  that  subject.  Frau  Kinkel  promised  me  to  be  very 
circumspect  with  her  letters  and  not  to  cause  him  any  unneces- 
sary excitement,  also  not  to  become  impatient  herself  if  she 
should  hear  from  me  but  seldom.  So  we  parted  and  I  started 
for  the  field  of  my  operations. 

At  the  railroad  station  I  found  my  friend  Jacobi,  who 
was  on  his  way  to  Schleswig-Holstein,  to  offer  his  services 
as  a  physician  to  our  struggling  brethren.  A  part  of  the  way 

[274] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
we  could  journey  together.  This  was  an  agreeable  surprise, 
but  a  much  less  agreeable  surprise  was  it  when  in  the  coupe 
in  which  we  took  seats  we  found  ourselves  directly  opposite  to 
Professor  Lassen  of  the  University  of  Bonn,  who  knew  me. 
We  were  greatly  startled.  Professor  Lassen  looked  at  me  with 
evident  astonishment,  but  as  Jacobi  and  I  began  to  chat  and 
laugh  as  other  young  men  would  have  done  with  apparent  un- 
concern, the  good  orientalist  probably  thought  that  he  was 
mistaken  and  that  I  could  not  possibly  be  the  malefactor  whom 
I  resembled  in  appearance.  On  the  11th  of  August  I  arrived 
at  Berlin.  My  passport,  bearing  the  name  of  my  cousin,  Heri- 
bert  Jussen,  and  fitting  me  admirably  in  the  personal  descrip- 
tion, was  in  excellent  order,  as  the  passports  of  political  of- 
fenders venturing  upon  dangerous  ground  usually  are,  and 
thus  I  had  no  difficulty  in  entering  Berlin,  the  gates  and  rail- 
road stations  of  which  were  supposed  to  be  closely  watched  by 
an  omniscient  police  bent  upon  arresting  or  turning  away  all 
suspicious  characters.  Without  delay  I  looked  up  some  student 
friends  who  had  been  with  me  members  of  the  Burschen- 
schaft  Franconia  at  the  university  of  Bonn,  and  they  gave 
me  a  hearty  welcome,  although  they  were  not  a  little  astonished 
to  see  me  suddenly  turn  up  in  Berlin.  They  were  discreet 
enough  not  to  ask  me  for  what  purpose  I  had  come,  and  thus 
made  it  easy  for  me  to  keep  my  own  secret.  Two  of  them,  who 
occupied  a  small  apartment  on  the  Markgrafen  Strasse,  in- 
vited me  to  share  their  quarters ;  and  as  I  went  out  and  in  with 
my  friends  the  police  officers  on  that  beat  no  doubt  regarded 
me  as  one  of  the  university  students,  a  good  many  of  whom 
lived  in  that  neighborhood. 

It  was  at  that  period  customary  in  Berlin,  and  perhaps  it 
is  now,  that  the  tenants  of  apartment  houses  were  not  furnished 
with  latchkeys  for  the  street  doors,  but  that  such  keys  were 

[275] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
entrusted  to  the  night-watchman  patrolling  the  street,  and  that 
a  tenant  wishing  to  enter  his  house  during  the  night  had  to 
apply  to  the  watchman  to  open  the  door  for  him.  Having  been 
seen  by  our  watchman  once  or  twice  coming  home  with  my 
friends,  I  was  regarded  by  him  as  legitimately  belonging  to 
the  regular  inhabitants  of  the  street ;  and  as  it  happened  several 
times  that,  returning  late  in  the  night  alone  from  my  expe- 
ditions to  Spandau,  where  I  was  preparing  for  the  deliv- 
erance of  a  man  sentenced  to  imprisonment  for  life,  I  called 
upon  this  same  police  officer  to  open  for  me — for  me,  who  was 
then  virtually  an  outlaw — the  door  of  my  abode,  which  he 
always  did  without  the  slightest  suspicion.  This  afforded  me 
and  my  friends  much  amusement,  and,  indeed,  considering  the 
great  reputation  of  the  Berlin  police  for  efficiency,  the  situation 
was  comical  enough.  It  is,  therefore,  not  surprising  that  I  be- 
came a  little  reckless  and  did  not  resist  the  temptation  to  see  the 
famous  French  actress,  Rachel,  who  at  that  period,  with  a  com- 
pany of  her  own,  was  presenting  the  principal  part  of  her  rep- 
ertoire to  the  Berlin  public. 

Rachel  had  then  reached  the  zenith  of  her  fame.  Her  his- 
tory was  again  and  again  rehearsed  in  the  newspapers:  how 
that  child  of  poor  Alsatian  Jews,  born  in  1820  in  a  small  inn 
of  the  canton  of  Aargau  in  Switzerland,  had  accompanied  her 
parents  on  their  peddling  tours  through  France;  how  she  had 
earned  pennies  by  singing  with  one  of  her  sisters  in  the  streets 
of  Paris ;  how  her  voice  attracted  attention ;  how  she  was  taken 
into  the  Conservatoire;  how  she  soon  turned  from  singing  to 
elocution  and  acting,  and  how  her  phenomenal  genius,  suddenly 
blazing  forth,  at  once  placed  her  far  ahead  of  the  most  re- 
nowned of  living  histrionic  artists.  We  revolutionary  youths 
remembered  with  especial  interest,  the  tales  that  had  come  from 
Paris  after  those  February  days  of  1848,  when  King  Louis 

[276] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
Philippe  was  driven  away  and  the  republic  proclaimed,  describ- 
ing Rachel  as  she  recited  the  "  Marseillaise  "  on  the  stage,  half 
singing,  half  declaiming,  and  throwing  her  hearers  into  parox- 
ysms of  patriotic  frenzy. 

Some  of  my  student  friends  having  witnessed  Rachel's 
first  performance  in  Berlin,  gave  me  extravagantly  enthusias- 
tic reports.  My  desire  to  see  her  became  very  great.  Indeed, 
the  attempt  would  not  be  without  risk.  In  thus  venturing  in;to 
a  public  place  I  might  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  police  and  go 
from  there  straightway  to  prison.  But  my  friends  told  me  that 
the  government  detectives  would  hardly  look  for  state  crim- 
inals in  a  theater,  and  that  I  would  be  safe  enough  in  the  large 
crowd  of  Rachel  enthusiasts.  I  could  put  myself  into  some 
dark  corner  of  the  parterre  without  danger  of  meeting  a  detec- 
tive for  one  night  at  least.  Finally,  with  the  light-heartedness 
of  youth,  I  resolved  to  take  the  risk. 

So  I  saw  Rachel.  It  was  one  of  the  most  overpowering 
impressions  of  my  life.  The  play  was  Racine's  "  Phedre."  I 
had  read  most  of  the  tragedies  of  Corneille,  Racine  and  Vol- 
taire, and  was  well  enough  acquainted  with  them  to  follow  the 
dialogue.  But  I  had  never  liked  them  much.  The  stilted  arti- 
ficiality of  the  diction  in  the  tedious  monotony  of  the  rhymed 
Alexandrine  verse  had  repelled  me,  and  I  had  always  won- 
dered how  such  plays  could  be  made  interesting  on  the  stage. 
That  I  was  to  learn.  When  Rachel  stepped  upon  the  scene,  not 
with  the  customary  stage  stride,  but  with  a  dignity  and  majes- 
tic grace  all  her  own,  there  was  first  a  spell  of  intense  astonish- 
ment and  then  a  burst  of  applause.  She  stood  still  for  a 
moment,  in  the  folds  of  her  classic  robe  like  an  antique  statue 
fresh  from  the  hand  of  Phidias.  The  mere  sight  sent  a  thrill 
through  the  audience :  her  face  a  long  oval,  her  forehead,  shad- 
owed by  black  wavy  hair,  not  remarkably  high,  but  broad  and 

[277] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
strong;  under  her  dark  arched  eyebrows  a  pair  of  wondrous 
eyes  that  glowed  and  blazed  in  their  deep  sockets  like  two 
black  suns;  a  finely  chiseled  nose  with  open,  quivering  nos- 
trils; above  an  energetic  chin  a  mouth  severe  in  its  lines,  with 
slightly  lowered  corners,  such  as  we  may  imagine  the  mouth 
of  the  tragic  Muse.  Her  stature,  sometimes  seeming  tall, 
sometimes  little,  very  slender,  but  the  attitude  betraying  elas- 
tic strength;  a  hand  with  fine  tapering  fingers  of  rare  beauty; 
the  whole  apparition  exciting  in  the  beholder  a  sensation  of 
astonishment  and  intense  expectancy. 

The  applause  ceasing,  she  began  to  speak.  In  deep  tones 
the  first  sentences  came  forth,  in  tones  so  deep  that  they 
sounded  as  if  rising  from  the  innermost  cavities  of  the  chest, 
aye,  from  the  very  bowels  of  the  earth.  Was  that  the  voice  of 
a  woman?  Of  this  you  felt  certain — such  a  voice  you  had  never 
heard,  never  a  tone  so  hollow  and  yet  so  full  and  resonant,  so 
phantomlike  and  yet  so  real.  But  this  first  surprise  soon 
yielded  to  new  and  greater  wonders.  As  her  speech  went  on 
that  voice,  at  first  so  deep  and  cavernous,  began,  in  the  chang- 
ing play  of  feelings  or  passions,  to  rise  and  roll  and  bound 
and  fly  up  and  down  the  scale  for  an  octave  or  two  without 
the  slightest  effort  or  artificiality,  like  the  notes  of  a  musical 
instrument  of  apparently  unlimited  compass  and  endless  va- 
riety of  tone  color.  Where  was  now  the  stiffness  of  the  Alex- 
andrine verse?  Where  the  tedious  monotony  of  the  forced 
rhymes?  That  marvelous  voice  and  the  effects  it  created  on 
the  listener  can  hardly  be  described  without  a  seemingly  ex- 
travagant resort  to  metaphor. 

Now  her  speech  would  flow  on  with  the  placid  purl  of  a 
pebbly  meadow  brook.  Then  it  poured  forth  with  the  dashing- 
vivacity  of  a  mountain  stream  rushing  and  tumbling  from  rock 
to  rock.  But  her  passion  aroused,  how  that  voice  heaved  and 

[278] 


RACHEL 


From  the  Painting  by  Edouard  Dubufe 


*<$>  OF  THE         r 

UNIVERSITY 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
surged  like  the  swelling  tide  of  the  sea  with  the  rising  tempest 
behind  it,  and  how  then  the  thunderstorm  burst,  booming  and 
pealing,  and  crashing,  as  when  the  lightning  strikes  close,  mak- 
ing you  start  with  terror !  All  the  elementary  forces  of  nature 
and  all  the  feelings  and  agitations  of  the  human  soul  seemed  to 
have  found  their  most  powerful  and  thrilling  language  in  the 
intonations  of  that  voice  and  to  subjugate  the  hearer  with  super- 
lative energy.  It  uttered  an  accent  of  tender  emotion,  and 
instantly  the  tears  shot  into  your  eyes;  a  playful  or  caj oiling 
turn  of  expression  came,  and  a  happy  smile  lightened  every  face 
in  the  audience.  Its  notes  of  grief  or  despair  would  make  every 
heart  sink  and  tremble  with  agony.  And  when  one  of  those  ter- 
rific explosions  of  wrath  and  fury  broke  forth  you  instinctively 
clutched  the  nearest  object  to  save  yourself  from  being  swept 
away  by  the  hurricane.  The  marvelous  modulations  of  that 
voice  alone  sufficed  to  carry  the  soul  of  the  listener  through  all 
the  sensations  of  joy,  sadness,  pain,  love,  hatred,  despair,  jeal- 
ousy, contempt,  wrath,  and  rage,  even  if  he  did  not  understand 
the  language,  or  if  he  had  closed  his  eyes  so  as  not  to  observe 
anything  of  the  happenings  on  the  stage. 

But  who  can  describe  the  witcheries  of  her  gestures  and 
the  changeful  play  of  her  eyes  and  features?  They  in  their 
turn  seemed  to  make  the  spoken  word  almost  superfluous. 
There  was,  of  course,  nothing  of  that  aimless  swinging  of 
arms  and  sawing  of  the  air  and  the  other  perfunctory  doings 
of  which  Hamlet  speaks.  Rachel's  action  was  sparing  and  sim- 
ple. When  that  beautiful  hand  with  its  slender,  almost  trans- 
lucent, fingers,  moved,  it  spoke  a  language  every  utterance  of 
which  was  a  revelation  to  the  beholder.  When  those  hands 
spread  out  with  open  palms  and  remained  for  a  moment  in 
explanatory  attitude — an  attitude  than  which  the  richest  fancy 
of  the  artist  could  not  have  imagined  anything  more  beauti- 

[  279  ] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
fully  expressive — they  made  everything  intelligible  and  clear; 
at  once  you  understood  it  all  and  were  in  accord  with  her. 
When  those  hands  stretched  themselves  out  to  the  friend  or 
the  lover,  accompanied  by  one  of  those  smiles  which  were  rare 
in  Rachel's  acting,  but  which,  whenever  they  appeared,  would 
irradiate  all  surroundings  like  friendly  sunbeams  breaking 
through  a  clouded  sky — a  tremor  of  happiness  ran  all  over  the 
house.  When  she  lifted  up  her  noble  head  with  the  majestic 
pride  of  authority,  as  if  born  to  rule  the  world,  everyone  felt 
like  bowing  before  her.  Who  would  have  dared  to  disobey 
when,  the  power  of  empire  on  her  front,  she  raised  her  hand 
in  a  gesture  of  command?  And  who  could  have  stood  up 
against  the  stony  glare  of  contempt  in  her  eye  and  the  haughty 
toss  of  her  chin,  and  the  disdainful  wave  of  her  arm,  which 
seemed  to  sweep  the  wretch  before  her  into  utter  nothingness? 

It  was  in  the  portrayal  of  the  evil  passions  and  the  fiercest 
emotions  that  her  powers  rose  to  the  most  tremendous  effects. 
Nothing  more  terrible  can  be  conceived  than  was  her  aspect  in 
her  great  climaxes.  Clouds  of  sinister  darkness  gathered  upon 
her  brow;  her  eyes,  naturally  deep-set,  began  to  protrude  and 
to  flash  and  scintillate  with  a  truly  hellish  fire.  Her  nostrils 
fluttered  in  wild  agitation  as  if  breathing  flame.  Her  body 
shot  up  to  unnatural  height.  Her  face  transformed  itself  into 
a  very  Gorgon  head,  making  you  feel  as  if  you  saw  the  ser- 
pents wriggling  in  her  locks.  Her  forefinger  darted  out  like 
a  poisoned  dagger  against  the  object  of  her  execration;  or 
her  fist  clenched  as  though  it  would  shatter  the  universe  at  a 
blow;  or  her  fingers  bent  like  the  veriest  tiger's  claws  to  lacer- 
ate the  victim  of  her  fury — a  spectacle  so  terrific  that  the  be- 
holder, shuddering  with  horror,  would  feel  his  blood  run  cold, 
and  gasp  for  breath,  and  moan,  "  God  help  us  all." 

This  may  sound  like  wild  exaggeration,  like  an  extrava- 

[280] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
gant  picture  produced  by  the  overheated  imagination  of  a 
young  man  charmed  by  a  stage-goddess.  I  must  confess  that 
I  was  at  first  somewhat  suspicious  of  my  own  sensations.  I, 
therefore,  at  that  as  well  as  at  later  periods,  repeatedly  asked 
persons  of  ripe  years  who  had  seen  Rachel,  about  the  impres- 
sions they  had  received,  and  I  found  that  theirs  hardly  ever 
materially  differed  from  mine.  Indeed,  I  have  often  heard 
gray-haired  men  and  women,  persons  of  cultivated  artistic 
judgment,  speak  of  Rachel  with  the  same  sort  of  bewildered 
enthusiasm  that  I  had  experienced  myself.  I  am  sure,  there 
was  in  my  admiration  of  Rachel  nothing  of  the  infatuation  of 
an  ingenuous  youth  for  an  actress  which  we  sometimes  hear  or 
read  of.  If  anybody  had  offered  to  introduce  me  personally 
to  Rachel,  nothing  would  have  made  me  accept  the  invitation. 
Rachel  was  to  me  a  demon,  a  supernatural  entity,  a  mysterious 
force  of  nature,  anything  rather  than  a  woman  with  whom  one 
might  dine,  or  speak  about  every-day  things,  or  take  a  drive 
in  a  park.  My  enchantment  was  of  an  entirely  spiritual  kind, 
but  so  strong  that  in  spite  of  the  perils  of  my  situation  in 
Berlin  I  could  not  withstand  it.  So  I  visited  the  theater  to 
see  Rachel  as  often  as  the  business  I  had  in  hand,  which  then 
required  occasional  night  drives  to  Spandau,  permitted  such 
a  luxury.  Of  course,  I  was  not  altogether  unmindful  of  the 
danger  to  which  I  was  exposing  myself.  I  always  managed  to 
have  a  seat  in  the  parterre  near  the  entrance.  While  the  cur- 
tain was  up,  I  was  sure  that  all  eyes  would  be  riveted  on  the 
scene.  Between  the  acts,  when  people  in  front  of  me  would 
turn  around  to  look  at  the  audience,  I  kept  my  face  well  cov- 
ered with  an  opera  glass  examining  the  boxes.  And  as  soon 
as  the  curtain  fell  after  the  last  act,  I  hurried  away  in  order  to 
avoid  the  crowd. 

But  one  night,  when  the  closing  scene  enchained  me  in  an 

[281] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
unusual  degree,  my  exit  was  not  quick  enough.  I  found  my- 
self wedged  in  among  the  multitude  pressing  for  the  street, 
and  suddenly  in  the  swaying  throng,  a  face  turned  toward 
me  which  I  knew  but  too  well  for  my  comfort.  It  was  that  of 
a  man  who  two  years  before  had  been  a  student  at  the  univer- 
sity at  Bonn,  who  had  been  a  member  of  our  democratic  club, 
and  who,  by  some  exceedingly  questionable  transaction,  had 
become  suspected  of  acting  for  the  police  as  a  spy.  I  had  heard 
of  his  presence  in  Berlin,  and  there,  also,  he  was  talked  of 
among  my  friends  as  one  whom  it  would  be  well  to  avoid. 
Now  he  looked  at  me  in  a  manner  clearly  indicating  that  he 
recognized  me,  but  as  if  he  were  astonished  to  see  me  there. 
I  returned  his  gaze,  as  if  I  resented  the  impertinence  of  a 
stranger  looking  at  me  so  inquisitively.  So  we  stood  face  to 
face  for  a  few  moments,  both  unable  to  move.  When  the  pres- 
sure of  the  crowd  relaxed,  I  made  the  greatest  possible  haste 
to  disappear  among  the  passersby  on  the  street.  That  was  my 
last  Rachel  night  in  Berlin. 

But  I  saw  her  again  later  in  Paris,  and  still  later  in  Amer- 
ica. In  fact,  I  have  seen  her  in  all  her  great  characters,  in  not 
a  few  of  them  several  times,  and  the  impression  was  always 
identically  the  same,  even  during  her  American  tour  when  her 
fatal  ailment  had  already  seized  upon  her,  and  her  powers 
were  said  to  be  on  the  wane.  Endeavoring  to  account  more 
clearly  for  those  impressions.  I  sometimes  asked  myself,  "  But 
is  this  really  the  mirror  held  up  to  nature?  Did  ever  a  woman 
in  natural  life  speak  in  such  tones?  Have  such  women  as 
Rachel  portrays  ever  lived?  "  The  answer  I  uniformly  arrived 
at  was  that  such  questions  were  idle;  if  Phedre,  Roxane,  Vir- 
ginia ever  lived,  so  they  must  have  been  as  Rachel  showed 
them;  or,  rather,  Rachel  in  her  acting  was  happiness,  misery, 
love,  jealousy,  hatred,  revenge,  anger,  rage — all  these  things 

[282] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
in  an  ideal  grandeur,  in  their  highest  poetic  potency,  in  gigan- 
tic reality.  This  may  not  be  a  very  satisfactory  definition,  but 
it  is  as  precise  as  I  can  make  it.  It  was  to  see,  to  hear,  and  to 
be  carried  away,  magically,  irresistibly.  The  waves  of  delight 
or  of  anguish  or  of  horror  with  which  Rachel  flooded  the  souls 
of  her  audiences  baffled  all  critical  analysis.  Criticism  floun- 
dered about  in  helpless  embarrassment  trying  to  classify  her 
performances,  or  to  measure  them  by  any  customary  standard. 
She  stood  quite  alone.  To  compare  her  with  other  actors  or 
actresses  seemed  futile,  for  there  was  between  them  not  a  mere 
difference  of  degree,  but  a  difference  of  kind.  Various  actresses 
of  the  time  sought  to  imitate  her;  but  whoever  had  seen  the 
original  simply  shrugged  his  shoulders  at  the  copies.  It  was 
the  mechanism  without  the  divine  breath.  I  have  subsequently 
seen  only  three  actresses — Ristori,  Wolter,  and  Sarah  Bern- 
hardt— who  now  and  then,  by  some  inspired  gesture  or  intona- 
tion of  voice,  reminded  me  of  Rachel ;  but  only  at  passing  mo- 
ments. On  the  whole,  the  difference  between  them  was  very 
great.  It  was  the  difference  between  unique  genius  which 
irresistibly  overpowers  and  subdues  us  and  to  which  we  in- 
voluntarily bow,  and  extraordinary  talent  which  we  simply 
admire.  Rachel  has  therefore  remained  with  me  an  overshad- 
owing memory,  and  when  in  later  years  in  my  familiar  circle 
we  discussed  the  merits  of  contemporaneous  stage  perfor- 
mances, and  someone  among  us  grew  enthusiastic  about  this  or 
that  living  actor  or  actress,  I  could  seldom  repress  the  remark 
— in  fact,  I  fear  I  made  it  often  enough  to  become  tiresome — 
"  All  this  is  very  fine,  but,  ah ! — you  should  have  seen  Rachel." 
A  few  days  after  the  meeting  with  the  spy  a  real  misfor- 
tune befell  me.  I  went  with  my  friends  Rhodes  and  Miiller 
to  a  public  bath.  I  slipped  and  fell  on  the  wet  floor,  injuring 
my  left  hip  so  much  that  I  was  unable  to  rise.  After  I  had 

[  283  ] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
been  carried  to  my  quarters  in  the  Markgraf  en  Strasse,  two  sur- 
geon friends  examined  my  injury.  It  turned  out  that  I  was 
suffering  only  from  a  strong  contusion,  which  threatened  to 
keep  me  in  bed  a  considerable  time.  There  I  lay  immovable 
and  helpless  while  the  city  teemed  with  police  agents  to  whom 
the  catching  of  an  insurrectionist  from  Baden  or  the  Palati- 
nate, who  was,  moreover,  prosecuted  on  account  of  other  polit- 
ical sins  and  now  engaged  in  a  further  mischief,  would  have 
been  an  especial  pleasure.  My  invalid  condition  lasted  two 
weeks.  As  soon  as  I  could  leave  the  house  again  I  took  up 
with  redoubled  zeal  my  task,  the  story  of  which  I  shall  now 
endeavor  to  give  in  a  coherent  report. 


[284] 


CHAPTER   X 

I  IMMEDIATELY  after  my  arrival  in  Berlin  I  put  myself 
in  communication  with  several  persons,  who  had  been  desig- 
nated to  me  as  trustworthy  by  Frau  Kinkel,  and  by  my  dem- 
ocratic friends.  I  spent  some  time  in  studying  them  carefully, 
as  I  could  not  confide  the  purpose  of  my  presence  in  Berlin  to 
anyone  of  whom  I  might  not  be  convinced  that  he  would  be 
useful  in  its  accomplishment.  After  this  review  I  told  my 
secret  to  one  of  them  only,  Dr.  Falkenthal,  a  physician  who 
practiced  and  lived  the  life  of  an  old  bachelor  in  the  suburb  of 
Moabit.  Falkenthal  had  already  been  in  correspondence  with 
Frau  Kinkel.  He  had  an  extended  acquaintance  in  Spandau 
and  conducted  me  there  to  an  innkeeper  by  the  name  of 
Kriiger,  for  whom  he  vouched  as  a  thoroughly  reliable  and 
energetic  man.  Mr.  Kriiger  occupied  in  Spandau  a  highly  re- 
spected position.  He  had  for  several  years  served  his  town 
as  a  member  of  the  common  council;  he  conducted  the  best 
hotel;  he  was  a  man  of  some  property,  and  was  also  gen- 
erally liked  on  account  of  his  honorable  character  and  his 
amiable  disposition.  Although  much  older  than  myself,  we 
gradually  became  true  friends.  I  found  in  him  not  only  quali- 
ties of  heart  and  soul  thoroughly  sympathetic  to  me,  but  also 
clear  judgment,  great  discretion,  unflinching  courage,  and  a 
noble,  self-sacrificing  devotion.  He  offered  me  his  hotel  as 
headquarters  for  my  enterprise. 

I  preferred,  however,  not  to  live  in  Spandau,  as  the  pres- 
ence of  a  stranger  in  so  small  a  town  could  rrot  well  remain  a 

[285] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
secret.  To  dwell  in  the  great  city  of  Berlin  appeared  to  me 
much  less  dangerous,  at  least  during  the  long  time  of  prepa- 
ration which  my  undertaking  would  probably  require. 

From  Berlin  to  Spandau  and  from  Spandau  back  to 
Berlin  I  did  not  avail  myself  of  the  railroad,  because  at  the 
Berlin  station  the  police  examined  the  passcards  of  every  trav- 
eler, even  on  the  way-trains,  and  if  my  passport,  with  the 
name  of  Heribert  Jiissen,  issued  in  Cologne,  appeared  too  fre- 
quently, it  might  have  excited  suspicion.  I  therefore  always 
hired  a  street  cab,  a  "  droschke,"  and  each  time  a  different 
one,  on  going  and  coming  to  and  from  Spandau,  usually  mak- 
ing the  short  journey  during  the  night. 

The  first  point  to  be  considered  was  whether  it  would  be 
feasible  to  liberate  Kinkel  by  force.  I  soon  convinced  myself 
that  there  was  no  such  possibility.  The  armed  guard  of  the 
penitentiary  itself  consisted  only  of  a  handful  of  soldiers  and 
the  turnkeys  on  duty.  It  would  therefore  have  been  possible 
for  a  number  of  resolute  men  to  storm  the  building.  But  it 
was  situated  in  the  center  of  a  fortified  town  filled  with  sol- 
diers, and  the  first  signal  of  alarm  would  have  attracted  an 
overpowering  force.  Such  a  venture  would  therefore  have 
been  hopeless.  On  the  other  hand,  we  knew  of  cases  in  which 
prisoners,  even  more  closely  watched  than  Kinkel  was,  had 
escaped  by  breaking  through  barred  windows  and  tunneling 
walls,  and  then  being  helped  to  a  safe  place  by  their  friends. 
But  this,  too,  seemed  hardly  possible  in  our  case  for  several 
reasons,  among  which  Kinkel's  lack  of  skill  in  the  use  of  his 
hands  was  not  the  least  serious.  In  any  event,  it  seemed  pru- 
dent to  try  first  whether  or  not  one  or  the  other  of  the  officers 
of  the  penitentiary  could  be  induced  to  help  us.  This  sort  of 
business  was  extremely  repugnant  to  me.  But  what  would  I 
not  do  to  save  a  dear  friend,  who  had  been  so  badly  and  cruelly 

[286] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
treated,  and  a  champion  of  liberty  who  might  still  be  so  useful 
to  a  great  cause? 

Kruger  selected  two  young  men,  well  known  to  him,  who 
were  in  friendly  intercourse  with  some  of  the  officers  to  be 
taken  into  our  confidence.  Their  names  were  Poritz  and  Led- 
dihn,  vigorous,  strong,  and  true  men,  who  confessed  them- 
selves willing  to  render  any  aid  required  of  them  in  so  good  a 
work  as  the  liberation  of  such  a  prisoner  as  Kinkel.  They 
agreed  to  bring  to  me  the  one  of  the  penitentiary  guards 
who.  they  believed,  might  be  most  easily  persuaded.  Thus  they 
introduced  to  me  in  a  little  beerhouse,  in  which  I  had  a  room 
to  myself,  a  turnkey  who  had  been,  like  most  of  his  colleagues, 
a  non-commissioned  officer  in  the  army  and  was  now  support- 
ing a  large  family  upon  a  very  small  salary.  Poritz  and  Led- 
dihn  had  vouched  to  him  for  my  good  faith,  and  he  listened 
quietly  to  what  I  had  to  say.  I  presented  myself  as  a  traveler 
for  a  business  house,  who  was  closely  related  to  the  Kinkel 
family.  I  described  to  him  the  misery  of  the  wife  and  the 
children,  and  how  anxious  they  were,  lest  with  the  poor  convict 
fare  he  would  gradually  waste  away  in  body  and  mind.  Would 
it  not  be  possible  to  smuggle  into  Kinkel's  cell  from  time  to 
time  a  bit  of  meat  or  a  glass  of  wine  to  keep  up  in  a  meas- 
ure his  strength,  until  the  king's  grace  would  take  pity  on 
him? 

The  turnkey  thought  Kinkel's  lot  indeed  very  deplorable. 
It  would  be  a  good  work  to  alleviate  it  a  little — perhaps  not 
impossible,  but  perilous.  He  would  consider  what  might  be 
done.  At  the  close  of  our  conversation  I  slipped  a  ten-thaler 
note  into  his  hand  with  the  request  that  he  buy  with  it  some 
nourishing  food  for  Kinkel  if  he  could  transmit  it  to  him  with- 
out danger.  I  intimated  that  business  affairs  required  me  to 
leave  Spandau,  but  that  I  would  return  in  a  few  days,  to  hear 

[287] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
what  report  he  could  give  about  the  condition  of  the  prisoner. 
He  could  be  certain  of  my  gratitude. 

Thus  we  parted.  Three  days  later  I  went  again  to  Span- 
dau  and  met  the  turnkey  in  the  same  way  as  before.  He  told 
me  he  had  succeeded  in  handing  to  Kinkel  a  sausage  and  a 
little  loaf  of  bread,  and  that  he  had  found  the  prisoner  in  com- 
paratively good  condition.  He  was  also  willing  to  do  still  more 
in  a  similar  way.  Of  course  I  did  not  wish  him  to  do  so  at  his 
own  expense,  and  therefore  gave  him  a  second  ten-thaler  note 
which  I  accompanied  with  the  request  that  he  deliver  into 
Kinkel's  hands  a  few  words  written  on  a  slip  of  paper,  and 
bring  back  to  me  from  Kinkel  a  word  in  reply.  This  too  he 
promised  to  do.  I  wrote  down  a  few  words  without  a  signature, 
containing  about  the  following:  "Your  friends  are  true  to 
you.  Keep  up  your  courage."  It  was  less  important  to  me  to 
inform  Kinkel  of  my  presence  than  to  satisfy  myself  that  the 
turnkey  had  really  carried  out  my  instructions,  and  whether 
I  could  go  farther  with  him. 

Again  I  left  to  return  in  a  few  days.  In  the  same  manner 
as  before  my  man  turned  up  and  brought  me  my  slip  of  paper, 
which  bore  a  word  of  thanks  in  Kinkel's  hand.  The  turnkey 
had  evidently  kept  his  promise,  and  had  thereby  taken  a  step 
which  compromised  him  greatly.  Now  it  appeared  to  me  time 
to  come  to  the  point.  Thus  I  told  him  that  the  thought  had 
crossed  my  brain  what  a  splendid  deed  it  would  be  to  deliver 
Kinkel  entirely  from  his  dreadful  situation,  and,  that  before 
returning  to  my  home  on  the  Rhine,  I  thought  it  my  duty  to 
ask  him  whether  this  thing  could  not  be  accomplished  through 
his  aid.  The  man  started  and  at  once  exclaimed  this  would  be 
impossible;  with  such  an  attempt  he  could  and  would  have 
nothing  to  do. 

The  mere  suggestion  had  evidently  terrified  him,  and  I 

[288  ] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
saw  clearly  that  he  was  not  the  man  whom  I  needed.  Now  I 
had  to  get  rid  of  him  and  assure  myself  at  the  same  time  of  his 
silence.  I  expressed  to  him  my  regret  at  his  unwillingness,  and 
added,  that  if  he,  who  had  been  represented  to  me  as  a  com- 
passionate and  at  the  same  time  courageous  man,  thought  such 
an  attempt  hopeless,  I  had  to  accept  his  opinion  and  abandon 
the  idea.  I  would  therefore  without  delay  depart  for  my  home 
and  not  return.  Then  I  hinted  to  him  something  about  a  secret 
and  mysterious  power  which,  if  it  could  not  liberate  Kinkel, 
might  become  very  dangerous  to  those  who  betrayed  him.  I 
succeeded  indeed  in  intimidating  him  to  such  a  degree  that  he 
begged  me  most  earnestly  not  to  bear  any  ill-will  against  him. 
I  assured  him  that  if  he  would  bury  in  silence  all  that  had  hap- 
pened, he  might  expect  me  to  remain  his  friend.  He  might 
count  even  upon  my  further  gratitude  if,  also,  after  my  de- 
parture he  would  continue  to  furnish  Kinkel  from  time  to  time 
with  some  nourishment.  This  he  promised  to  do  with  demon- 
strative earnestness.  Then  I  handed  him  another  ten-thaler 
note  and  took  leave  of  him  forever. 

So  my  first  attempt  had  failed.  I  remained  quiet  for  some 
days  until  Kriiger,  Leddihn  and  Poritz,  who  in  the  meantime 
had  been  watching  the  penitentiary  people  very  carefully, 
communicated  to  me  their  conviction  that  my  man  had  not 
disclosed  anything.  Thereupon  my  Spandau  friends  brought 
to  me  another  turnkey.  I  began  with  him  in  the  same  manner 
as  with  the  first,  and  everything  seemed  to  progress  favorably 
until  I  put  the  question  whether  or  not  he  was  willing  to  lend 
his  hand  in  an  attempt  to  set  Kinkel  free.  The  second  man 
showed  no  more  courage  than  the  first,  whereupon  I  dismissed 
him.  A  third  man  was  brought,  but  he  seemed  so  frightened 
by  the  first  word  that  I  did  not  put  the  decisive  question  to 
him  at  all. 

[  289  ] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
Now  it  appeared  to  me  prudent  to  let  the  affair  rest  for 
a  while,  at  least  until  we  could  be  perfectly  assured  that  the 
three  disquieted  souls  in  the  penitentiary  had  preserved  silence. 
My  sojourn  in  Berlin,  too,  began  to  become  uncomfortable 
to  me.  The  number  of  friends  who  knew  of  my  presence  in 
the  Prussian  capital  had  grown  a  little  too  large,  and  I 
was  confronted  too  often  by  the  question  why  I  was  there  and 
what  were  my  intentions.  I  therefore  requested  one  of  my 
friends  to  bid  good-bye  to  the  others  in  my  behalf.  I  had  de- 
parted not  to  return.  Where  I  went,  nobody  knew.  In  fact,  I 
went  for  a  week  or  two  to  Hamburg.  There  I  met  my  friend 
Strodtmann  and  got  into  communication  with  some  people  of 
our  way  of  thinking.  But  the  most  agreeable  society  could 
not  hold  me  long.  By  the  end  of  September  I  returned  to 
my  work,  but  I  did  not  go  back  to  Berlin,  thinking  it  safer 
to  live  with  my  friend,  Dr.  Falkenthal,  in  the  suburb  of 
Moabit. 

At  Spandau  I  received  the  report  that  everything  had  re- 
mained quiet.  In  general  my  secret  had  been  well  kept.  To 
my  friends  in  Berlin  I  had  disappeared  into  regions  unknown. 
Only  one  of  them,  a  law  student,  by  the  name  of  Dreyer,  once 
accidentally  ran  against  me  in  Moabit.  He  may  have  had  a 
suspicion  as  to  what  my  business  was,  but  I  could  firmly  count 
upon  his  discretion.  At  a  later  period  many  persons  who  were 
entire  strangers  to  me  have  stated  that  they  were  at  that  time 
in  confidential  relations  with  me,  but  such  statements  were  un- 
founded. Even  Dr.  Falkenthal  and  Kriiger  did  not  at  that 
time  know  my  true  name.  To  them  I  was,  as  my  passport  in- 
dicated, Heribert  Jussen,  and  among  Dr.  Falkenthal's  neigh- 
bors, who  sometimes  saw  me,  I  passed  for  a  young  physician 
assisting  the  doctor  in  his  studies.  To  strengthen  this  impres- 
sion I  always  carried  a  little  kit  of  surgical  instruments  with 

[290] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
me  as  they  are  frequently  seen  in  the  hands  of  physicians. 
From  Moabit  I  made  my  nightly  excursions  as  before. 

After  my  return  from  Hamburg  I  did  not  at  once  suc- 
ceed in  finding  among  the  penitentiary  officials  the  man  I 
wanted.  A  fourth  was  introduced  to  me,  but  he  too  would 
undertake  nothing  more  than  to  smuggle  into  Kinkel's  cell 
some  eatables  and  perhaps  a  written  communication.  I  began 
to  entertain  serious  doubts  as  to  whether  the  plan  so  far  pur- 
sued could  be  successfully  carried  out,  for  the  list  of  the  turn- 
keys was  nearly  exhausted.  Then  suddenly  and  unexpectedly 
I  found  the  helper  whom  I  had  so  long  looked  for  in  vain.  My 
Spandau  friends  made  me  acquainted  with  Officer  Brune. 

At  the  first  moment  of  our  meeting  I  received  from  him 
an  impression  very  different  from  that  which  his  colleagues 
had  made  upon  me.  He  too  had  been  a  non-commissioned  offi- 
cer in  the  army;  he  too  had  wife  and  children  and  a  miserable 
salary  like  the  others.  But  in  his  bearing  there  was  nothing  of 
the  servile  humility  so  frequently  found  among  subalterns. 
When  I  talked  to  him  of  Kinkel  and  of  my  desire  to  alleviate 
his  misery  at  least  a  little  by  conveying  to  him  additional  fare, 
Brune's  face  expressed  none  of  the  pitiable  embarrassment  of 
the  man  who  is  vacillating  between  his  sense  of  duty  and  a 
ten-thaler  note.  Brune  stood  firmly  upright  like  a  man  who 
is  not  ashamed  of  what  he  is  willing  to  do.  He  talked  with 
astonishing  frankness  without  waiting  for  the  gradual  ad- 
vance of  my  suggestions. 

"  Certainly,"  he  said,  "  I  will  help  as  much  as  I  can.  It 
is  a  shame  and  a  disgrace  that  so  learned  and  worthy  a  gentle- 
man should  sit  here  among  common  rogues  in  this  peni- 
tentiary. I  would  gladly  help  him  out  myself  if  I  had  not  to 
take  care  of  my  wife  and  children." 

His  indignation  at  the  treatment  Kinkel  had  received 

[291] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
appeared  so  honest,  and  the  whole  manner  of  the  man  ex- 
pressed so  much  courage  and  self-respect  that  I  thought  I 
might  come  to  the  point  with  him  without  circumlocution. 
And  thus  I  told  him  point-blank  that  if  the  support  of  his 
family  was  his  greatest  trouble,  I  would  be  able  to  overcome 
that  difficulty.  Assured  of  this,  would  he  then,  I  asked,  be 
willing  to  lend  a  hand  to  Kinkel's  escape  ? 

"If  it  can  be  done,"  he  answered;  "but  you  know  it  is 
a  difficult  and  dangerous  thing.  I  will  consider  whether  and 
how  it  may  be  done.  Give  me  three    days'  time   to   think  it 


over." 


"  Good,"  I  replied,  "  do  think  it  over;  to  judge  from  your 
accent  you  are  a  Westphalian." 

"  Yes,  born  near  Soest." 

"Then  we  are  near  neighbors;  I  am  a  Rhinelander.  In 
three  days  then." 

Those  were  three  long  days  which  I  passed  in  Dr.  Falken- 
thal's  quarters.  I  sought  to  soothe  my  impatience  by  reading 
Dumas'  "  Three  Musketeers  "  and  a  large  part  of  Lamar- 
tine's  history  of  the  Girondists.  But  the  book  would  fall  again 
and  again  into  my  lap  and  my  thoughts  roam  abroad. 

On  the  evening  of  the  third  day  I  went  again  to  Spandau 
and  a  heavy  burden  fell  from  my  heart  at  Brune's  first  word. 

"  I  have  thought  it  over,"  he  said.  "  I  think  we  can 
do  it."       x 

I  had  to  restrain  myself  for  joy.  Brune  explained  how 
some  night  in  the  near  future,  when  the  watch  in  the  upper 
story  of  the  penitentiary  would  be  his  and  a  certain  other  offi- 
cer would  be  in  the  lower  story,  he  might  possess  himself  of 
the  necessary  keys  and  conduct  Kinkel  to  the  gate  of  the 
building.  The  plan,  as  he  laid  it  before  me,  the  details  of  which 
I  shall  return  to  later,  appeared  feasible. 

[292] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 

But  not  until  the  night  from  the  5th  to  the  6th  of  No- 
vember would  the  night  watches  be  as  he  would  have  them. 
This  suited  me,  for  I  too  wanted  some  time  for  necessary  prep- 
arations. 

Then  I  informed  Brune  what  provision  I  would  be  able 
to  make  for  his  family.  A  sum  of  money  was  at  my  disposal 
which  was  contributed  partly  by  German  democrats,  partly 
by  personal  admirers  of  Kinkel,  among  them  the  Russian 
Baroness  Briining,  of  whom  I  shall  have  more  to  say.  This 
enabled  me  to  offer  to  Brune  a  decent  compensation.  Brune  was 
content.  The  question  whether  it  would  be  best  to  ship  him 
and  his  family  to  America  he  rejected  at  once.  Perhaps  he 
hoped  to  remain  undiscovered  as  a  participant  in  our  enter- 
prise or  he  preferred,  in  case  of  discovery,  to  suffer  his  punish- 
ment and  to  keep  his  family  in  the  Fatherland. 

Thus  we  were  agreed.  Now  the  important  preparations 
were  taken  in  hand.  Frau  Kinkel  had  instructed  me  to  call 
personally  for  the  sum  of  money  at  my  disposal  at  the  resi- 
dence of  a  lady  in  Berlin,  a  friend  of  hers  who  was  a  relative  of 
the  celebrated  Felix  Mendelssohn  Bartholdy.  It  was  in  the  dusk 
of  evening  that  I  arrived  at  this  lady's  house.  I  was  received  by 
a  somewhat  solemn  footman  to  whom  I  gave  my  name  Heri- 
bert  Jussen.  He  showed  me  into  a  large  drawing-room,  in 
which  everything — furniture,  pictures,  books,  musical  instru- 
ments— breathed  comfort  and  refinement.  I  had  to  wait  a  little 
while,  and  the  contrast  between  my  own  wild  business  and  these 
peaceable  and  elegant  surroundings  became  very  sensible  to 
me.  At  last  a  lady  clad  in  black  entered,  whose  features  I 
could  just  discern  in  the  twilight.  She  was  no  longer  young 
nor  altogether  beautiful.  But  her  presence  radiated  a  rare 
charm.  In  her  hand  she  carried  a  large  pocketbook. 

"  You  bring  me  greetings  from  a  Rhineland  friend?  "  she 

[293] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
said  with  one  of  those  mellow  voices  that  touch  the  soul  like 
a  benefaction. 

"  Yes,  cordial  greetings,"  I  replied,  "  from  a  friend  who 
asked  me  to  beg  you  for  a  package  of  valuable  papers  which 
she  had  put  into  your  hands  for  safe-keeping.' ' 

"  I  knew  that  you  would  come  at  about  this  time,"  the 
lady  replied.  "  In  this  pocketbook  you  will  find  all.  I  do  not 
know  your  plans,  but  they  must  be  good.  You  have  my  warm- 
est wishes ;  God  protect  and  bless  you."  Then  she  reached  out 
to  me  her  slender  hand  with  a  warm  pressure,  and  I  felt,  after 
having  left  her,  that  her  blessing  had  already  become  a  reality. 

That  money  was  a  heavy  care  to  me.  Never  had  I  borne 
any  responsibility  of  this  kind  for  the  property  of  others.  In 
order  not  to  expose  this  precious  treasure  to  any  accident,  I 
carried  it  constantly  with  me  tightly  sewed  in  the  inside  pocket 
of  my  waistcoat. 

The  difficult  task  which  I  had  still  to  perform  before  the 
decisive  hour  consisted  in  arranging  for  means  of  transporta- 
tion to  a  safe  place  of  refuge.  Where  should  we  turn  after  the 
escape  of  the  prisoner?  The  frontiers  of  Switzerland,  Belgium 
and  France  were  too  far  away.  We  could  not  venture  upon  so 
long  a  journey  through  a  hostile  country.  Nothing  remained, 
therefore,  but  to  try  to  reach  the  seacoast  somewhere  in  order 
to  cross  over  to  England.  After  due  consideration  I  con- 
cluded that  the  government  would  certainly  take  all  pre- 
cautions to  watch  every  outgoing  vessel  in  the  harbors  of 
Bremen  and  Hamburg.  It  appeared  therefore  prudent  to 
choose  another  seaport,  and  so  I  turned  to  Mecklenburg.  We 
had  an  influential  and  true  friend  in  Rostock  in  the  eminent 
jurist  and  president  of  the  house  of  delegates,  Moritz  Wig- 
gers,  with  whom  I  had  become  personally  acquainted  at  the 
democratic  congress  in  Braunschweig.  I  might  also  hope  to 

[294] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
reach  Rostock  more  quickly  than  any  other  port — for  we  could 
not  trust  ourselves  to  the  railroads — and  the  journey  to  Ros- 
tock offered  the  advantage  that  if  we  left  Spandau  about  mid- 
night, we  might  hope  to  cross  the  Mecklenburg  frontier  and 
thus  to  be  beyond  the  immediate  pursuit  by  the  Prussian  police 
about  daybreak.  I  had  also  on  my  list  of  reliable  persons  a 
very  considerable  number  of  Mecklenburgers  to  whom  I  could 
apply  for  assistance. 

I  now  set  out  to  travel  along  the  road  which  I  had  re- 
solved to  take,  in  order  to  make  the  necessary  arrangements 
as  to  relays  of  horses  and  carriages  for  the  decisive  night  and 
the  day  following.  Of  course,  we  could  use  only  private  car- 
riages with,  if  possible,  the  owners  on  the  box.  Until  then  I 
had  succeeded  in  keeping  my  secret  within  a  very  narrow  circle 
of  participants.  But  now  it  was  necessary  to  draw  a  larger 
number  of  persons  into  confidence,  and  thus  the  danger  grew 
in  proportion.  What  I  feared  most  was  not  malicious  treach- 
ery, but  excessive  and  indiscreet  zeal.  Everywhere  I  was  met 
with  hearty  cordiality,  and  this  cordiality  was  not  confined  to 
persons  of  the  same  political  belief. 

Of  this  I  had  a  surprising  example.  My  democratic 
friends  had  designated  as  specially  trustworthy  and  helpful  a 
gentleman  living  in  the  interior  of  Mecklenburg  who  was  not 
on  my  list.  I  visited  him  and  was  very  kindly  received.  He 
also  assured  me  without  hesitation  of  his  willing  assistance  in 
the  arrangement  for  relays.  Then  our  conversation  turned 
upon  politics,  and  to  my  indescribable  astonishment,  my  new 
friend  declared  to  me  that  he  considered  our  democratic  ideas 
as  well  meant  but  as  vain  phantasies.  He  became  quite  elo- 
quent in  setting  forth  his  opinion  that  human  society  would 
appear  most  delightful  and  would  also  be  most  happy  if  it 
were  as  variegated  and  checkered  as  possible  in  its  division  into 

[295] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
estates  and  classes  and  ranks  and  conditions  and  callings,  with 
princes,  knights,  merchants,  clergymen,  tradesmen,  peasants, 
each  and  all  with  different  rights  and  duties.  Even  monas- 
teries he  would  have  preserved  with  their  abbots  and  abbesses, 
monks  and  nuns.  In  short,  of  all  phases  of  human  civilization 
the  Middle  Ages  seemed  to  him  the  most  congenial.  "  You 
see,"  he  added  with  a  kindly  smile,  "I  am  what  you  would 
call  a  full-blooded  reactionary,  and  I  don't  believe  at  all  in  your 
liberty  and  equality  and  that  sort  of  thing.  But  that  they  have 
put  Kinkel,  a  poet  and  a  sage,  into  a  penitentiary  on  account 
of  his  idealistic  imaginings,  that  is  a  revolting  scandal,  and 
although  I  am  a  good  conservative  Mecklenburger,  I  am  at  all 
times  ready  to  help  Kinkel  out." 

So  we  parted  in  the  warmest  agreement.  But  after  all  I 
did  not  feel  quite  comfortable  about  my  new  friend,  and  I 
talked  afterwards  with  my  democratic  associates  in  Mecklen- 
burg of  the  curious  speeches  of  this  gentleman  and  of  my 
anxiety  about  him.  "  Do  not  borrow  any  trouble  on  that 
score,"  was  the  answer.  "  He  is  indeed  a  very  curious  saint  and 
talks  amazing  stuff.  But  when  there  is  a  good  deed  to  be  done, 
he  is  as  true  as  gold."  And  so  he  proved  to  be. 

After  a  journey  of  several  days  my  relays  were  arranged, 
and  I  could  hope  that  a  drive  of  less  than  thirty  hours  would 
take  us  from  Spandau  to  Rostock.  There  we  might  confide 
ourselves  to  our  good  friends  until  a  vessel  should  be  ready  to 
take  us  across  the  sea.  To  carry  us  from  Spandau  to  the  first 
relay,  Kriiger  applied  to  a  well-to-do  farmer  in  the  neighbor- 
hood by  the  name  of  Hensel,  who  had  fast  horses  and  would 
be  glad  to  put  them  and  his  carriage  and  himself  as  driver  at 
our  disposal. 

On  November  4  I  took  leave  of  Dr.  Falkenthal.  He 
was  acquainted   with  my   plans   in   general,   but   I   had   not 

[296] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
thought  it  necessary  to  initiate  him  into  all  the  details.  So  he 
did  not  know  the  exact  night  in  which  the  attempt  was  to  be 
made,  and  he  was  also  discreet  enough  not  to  ask  me  about  it. 
But  in  bidding  me  farewell,  he  gave  me  a  brace  of  pistols, 
which  might  serve  me  in  close  quarters.  Arrived  in  Spandau 
on  the  evening  of  November  4,  I  had  a  conversation  with 
Brune,  in  which  we  talked  over  the  details  of  our  scheme,  in 
order  to  assure  ourselves  that  nothing  had  been  neglected. 
Everything  seemed  to  be  in  order. 

Our  programme  disposed  of,  Brune  said:  "There  is  one 
more  thing  of  which  I  do  not  like  to  speak." 

I  listened  with  some  surprise.  "What  is  it?" 

"You   have   my   fullest   confidence,"    Brune   continued. 
'  What  you  have  promised  to  do  for  my  family  that  you  will 
honestly  do — if  you  can." 

"  Certainly  I  can.  I  have  the  means  in  my  possession." 

"  That  is  not  what  I  mean,"  Brune  objected.  "  If  every- 
thing goes  well  to-morrow  night,  then  I  am  as  sure  of  the 
money  as  if  I  had  it  in  my  pocket.  That  I  know.  But  maybe 
all  will  not  go  well.  The  thing  is  dangerous.  Accident  may  . 
have  its  play.  Something  human  can  happen  to  you  and  to 
me  too,  in  fact,  to  both  of  us.  And  what  will  then  become 
of  my  family,  my  wife  and  my  children? " 

He  was  silent  for  a  moment  and  so  was  I.  "  Now,  what 
further? "  I  asked. 

"  Considering  the  matter  calmly,"  Brune  slowly  an- 
swered, "  you  will  see  yourself  that  the  money  must  be  in  the 
hands  of  my  family  before  I  risk  my  head." 

"  You  tell  me  yourself  that  I  must  consider  this  thing,"  I 
said  with  some  hesitation.  "  Let  me  do  so  and  I  shall  give  you 
my  answer  as  soon  as  possible.  In  the  meantime  will  you  pre- 
pare everything  according  to  our  agreement? " 

[297] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 

"  You  may  depend  upon  it." 

Then  we  wished  each  other  good-night. 

The  hour  I  spent  after  this  in  the  solitude  of  my  room  in 
Kriiger's  hotel,  taking  counsel  with  myself,  I  have  never  for- 
gotten. 

The  money,  according  to  my  notions  an  enormous  sum, 
had  been  confided  to  me  for  a  specific  purpose ;  should  it  be  lost 
without  having  accomplished  this  purpose,  then  it  was  all  over 
with  Kinkel,  for  such  a  sum  could  hardly  be  raised  for  him  a 
second  time.  My  personal  honor  would  also  be  lost,  for  I 
would  then  have  upon  me  a  suspicion  of  dishonesty  or  at  least 
a  reproach  of  guilty  recklessness.  And  was  it  not  really  great 
recklessness  to  confide  this  trust  fund,  upon  a  mere  promise, 
without  further  guarantee,  to  a  man  who  after  all  was  a 
stranger  to  me?  What  did  I  really  know  of  Brune?  Nothing 
but  that  his  face  and  his  utterances  had  made  upon  me  a  most 
favorable  impression  and  that  he  was  held  in  good  repute  by 
his  acquaintances.  And  these  acquaintances  had  told  me  that 
they  would  have  brought  Brune  first  to  me  had  they  not 
thought  that  a  man  like  him  would  hardly  consider  such  a 
proposition.  Indeed,  they  had  added,  that  if  he  did  it,  he 
might  be  absolutely  trusted.  But  was  not  the  opportunity  to 
appropriate  to  himself  such  a  sum  of  money  and  then  to  mani- 
fest his  official  fidelity  by  delivering  me  up  to  the  police,  to  a 
person  in  his  situation,  in  the  highest  degree  seductive?  And 
would  not  he,  if  he  contemplated  such  a  treachery,  act  exactly 
as  Brune  had  done?  Had  he  not  by  the  most  positive  promises 
and  by  apparent  preparations  excited  my  hopes  to  the  utmost, 
to  the  end  of  inducing  me  by  some  clever  pretext  to  deliver 
to  him  the  money,  and  then  to  ruin  me  all  the  more  easily? 

On  the  other  hand,  could  Brune,  were  he  ever  so  honest, 
really  act  differently?  Could  he  expose  his  wife  and  his  chil- 

[298] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
dren  to  the  chance  of  accident?  Was  he  not  obliged  in  order 
to  secure  the  future  of  his  family  to  demand  the  money  in 
advance?  Would  I  not  do  the  same  in  his  situation?  Further- 
more, did  Brune  seem  like  a  traitor?  Could  a  traitor  look  into 
my  eyes  and  speak  to  me  as  Brune  had  done?  Was  his  straight- 
forward, frank,  candid,  even  proud  bearing  that  of  a  man 
who  would  entice  another  into  an  ambush  to  rob  him?  Im- 
possible. 

And  finally,  how  could  I  hope  to  win  if  I  did  not  dare? 
Should  I  abandon  the  liberation  of  my  friend  because  I  would 
deny  to  Brune  the  request  which  everybody  else  would  make 
to  me  under  similar  circumstances?  Yes,  it  was  clear,  if  I 
would  save  Kinkel  from  his  dreadful  fate,  I  had  to  risk  if 
necessary  even  my  honor. 

The  thought  to  deposit  the  money  for  Brune  in  a  third 
person's  hand  had  occurred  to  me,  but  I  rejected  it,  partly  be- 
cause that  might  have  led  to  further  complications ;  partly,  also, 
because  if  I  must  dare,  I  preferred  to  dare  in  a  manner  which 
Brune  would  take  as  proof  of  my  absolute  confidence  in  his 
integrity. 

I  reminded  myself  that  the  war  in  Schleswig-Holstein 
was  still  going  on.  In  the  Schleswig-Holstein  army,  I 
thought,  I  might  enlist  as  a  volunteer  under  an  assumed  name 
and  seek  my  fate  on  the  field  of  battle,  should  the  enterprise 
in  Spandau  miscarry,  and  the  money  be  lost,  and  I  at  the  same 
time  escape.  My  friends  would  then  at  least  believe  in  my 
honesty.  This  was  the  reasoning  that  led  me  to  the  decision  to 
hand  over  the  money  to  Brune  before  the  fulfillment  of  his 
promise.  I  had  just  formed  this  conclusion  when  Kriiger 
knocked  at  my  door  and  said  that  Poritz  and  Leddihn  were 
below;  was  there  still  anything  more  they  could  do  for  me? 

"  Yes,"  I  answered.  "  I  would  ask  them  to  bring  Brune 

[299] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
to  me  once  again  in  a  quarter  of  an  hour  to  the  Heinrich 
Plate." 

Brune  came  with  my  friends.  I  took  him  aside. 
"  Mr.  Brune,"  I  said,  "  I  will  not  let  you  go  to  bed  with 
a  load  of  doubt  on  your  heart.  We  have  spoken  about  the 
money.  That  money  is  a  treasure  confided  to  me.  My  honor 
hangs  on  it.  Everything  I  trust  to  you — money,  honor,  free- 
dom, all.  You  are  a  brave  man.  I  wish  to  say  to  you  still  this 
night  tfyat  to-morrow  evening  at  five  o'clock  I  shall  bring  the 
money  to  your  quarters." 

Brune  was  silent  for  a  moment.  At  last  he  heaved  a  sigh 
and  replied:  "  I  would  probably  have  done  it  without  this.  To- 
morrow at  midnight  your  friend  Kinkel  will  be  a  free  man." 

I  passed  the  larger  part  of  the  following  day  with 
Kriiger,  Leddihn,  and  Poritz,  in  going  over  the  chances  of  our 
enterprise,  in  order  to  make  provision  for  all  not  yet  foreseen 
accidents.  At  last  the  evening  came.  I  put  the  money  for 
Brune  into  a  cigar  box  and  went  to  his  dwelling.  I  found  him 
alone  in  his  scantily  furnished  but  neat  living-room,  and 
handed  the  cigar  box  to  him  with:  "  Here  it  is;  count  it." 

"There  you  do  not  know  me,"  he  answered;  "  if  between 
us  a  mere  word  were  not  sufficient,  we  should  not  have  begun 
together.  What  comes  from  you,  I  don't  count." 

"  Is  there  anything  to  change  in  our  plan?  " 

"  Nothing." 

"  To-night,  then." 

"  To-night,  and  good  luck!  " 

Indeed,  we  had  good  reason  to  be  confident  of  the  success 
of  our  plan,  barring  incalculable  accidents.  The  penitentiary 
building  was  situated  in  the  center  of  the  town,  a  large,  bar- 
rack-like edifice,  the  bare  walls  of  which  were  pierced  by  one 
large  gate  and  a  multitude  of  narrow  slits  of  windows.  On  all 

[300] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
four  sides  it  was  surrounded  by  streets.  The  entrance  was  on 
the  main  street.  It  led  into  a  large  gateway.  Inside  of  that 
gateway  there  was,  on  the  right,  a  door  opening  into  the  official 
dwelling  of  the  director  of  the  institution,  and  on  the  left  a 
door  leading  into  the  guardroom  of  the  soldiers  on  duty  in  the 
prison.  At  the  end  of  the  passage  a  third  door  opened  upon  an 
inner  court.  A  stone  staircase  leading  up  from  the  hall  united 
the  lower  with  the  upper  stories.  High  up  on  the  second  story 
was  Kinkel's  cell.  It  had  a  window  towards  the  rear  of  the 
edifice.  This  window  was  guarded  by  a  screen  which  opened 
upwards  so  that  a  little  daylight  fell  in  from  above  and  only 
a  small  bit  of  sky  could  be  seen,  but  nothing  of  the  surround- 
ings below.  The  window  was  also  guarded  by  strong  iron 
bars,  wire  lattice  and  a  wooden  shutter,  which  was  closed  at 
night — in  short,  by  all  the  contrivances  that  are  usually  em- 
ployed to  shut  off  a  prisoner  from  all  communication  with 
the  outside  world.  Moreover,  the  cell  was  divided  into  two 
compartments  by  a  strong  wooden  railing,  which  reached  from 
the  floor  to  the  ceiling.  One  of  the  compartments  contained 
Kinkel's  bed;  in  the  other,  during  the  day,  he  did  his  work. 
The  two  compartments  were  united  by  a  door  in  the  wooden 
railing,  which  every  evening  was  securely  fastened.  The  en- 
trance to  the  cell  from  the  corridor  was  guarded  by  two  heavy 
doors,  with  several  locks.  In  the  street,  under  Kinkel's  cell, 
stood  day  and  night  a  sentinel.  Another  sentinel  watched  dur- 
ing the  daytime  the  door  of  the  building  on  the  main  street, 
but  he  was  transferred  to  the  inner  court  during  the  night — 
a  regulation  which  proved  very  important  to  us.  Had  it  not 
been  for  this  stupid  arrangement  we  would  never  have  at- 
tempted what  we  did.  The  cell,  the  doors,  the  locks  on  the 
railings,  were  all  examined  several  times  every  twenty-four 
hours  by  the  turnkeys  on  duty. 

[301] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
The  keys  to  Kinkel's  cell,  as  well  as  those  to  the  door  in 
the  inside  wooden  railing,  were  during  the  night,  after  Kinkel 
had  been  locked  up  in  his  compartment,  kept  in  a  locker  in  the 
room  of  the  inspector,  the  so-called  Revier  room.  As  Brune 
had  no  access  to  the  Revier  room  during  the  night,  and  the  key 
had  been  confided  to  another  superior  officer,  he  had  availed 
himself  of  some  opportunity  to  procure  a  wax  impression  of 
that  key,  from  which  a  duplicate  key  was  made,  enabling 
Brune  to  enter  the  Revier  room  during  the  night.  The  key 
to  the  locker  containing  the  keys  to  KinkeFs  cell  was,  as  Brune 
knew,  in  the  evening  negligently  put  on  top  of  that  locker, 
so  that  without  difficulty  he  could  possess  himself  of  the  keys 
to  the  cell.  Thus  Brune  believed  himself  fully  able  to  enter 
the  cell  during  the  night  and  to  take  the  prisoner  out.  It  had 
been  agreed  that  Brune,  who  had  the  watch  of  the  night  of 
the  5th  to  the  6th  of  November  on  KinkeFs  corridor,  should 
bring  Kinkel  down  the  stairs  into  the  gateway.  He  was  sure 
that  he  could  take  him  without  danger  past  the  turnkey  watch- 
ing the  lower  floor.  Whether  he  intended  to  interest  that  man 
in  our  affair,  or  to  divert  his  attention  in  some  manner,  Brune 
did  not  tell  me.  He  only  assured  me  I  might  depend  upon 
there  being  no  difficulty  about  this.  As  soon  as  Kinkel  was 
conducted  into  the  gateway  below,  I  was  to  be  there  to  receive 
him.  In  one  of  the  wings  of  the  great  door  that  opened  upon 
the  main  street  there  was  a  little  postern  gate  to  facilitate  the 
daily  passage  in  and  out.  Of  the  key  of  this  postern  gate  we  had 
also  procured  a  wax  impression,  and  from  it  a  duplicate  key. 
Now,  it  was  to  be  my  task,  shortly  after  midnight,  after  the 
town  night  watchman — for  in  Spandau  there  was  at  that  time 
still  a  night  watchman  with  spear  and  rattle — had  passed 
by  the  building  on  the  street,  to  open  the  postern  gate,  to  step 
into  the  interior  of  the  gateway,  there  to  await  Brune  and 

[302] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
Kinkel,  to  wrap  Kinkel  up  in  a  cloak,  to  take  him  through  the 
postern  gate  into  the  street  and  to  hurry  with  him  to  Kruger's 
hotel,  where  he  was  to  put  on  a  suit  of  clothes,  and  then  step 
with  me  into  Hensel's  carriage — and  away. 

I  had  asked  Brune  to  provide  Kinkel  with  a  plentiful  sup- 
ply of  food,  so  that  he  might  be  in  a  good  physical  condition. 
But  to  avoid  long  excitement,  Kinkel  was  to  be  informed  only 
on  the  evening  of  the  5th  of  November,  the  night  of  the  at- 
tempt, that  something  was  being  done  for  him,  and  that  he 
should  go  to  bed  at  the  accustomed  hour,  rise  immediately  be- 
fore midnight,  dress  himself  and  be  ready  for  the  venture. 

On  the  same  day  Leddihn  and  Poritz  had  entrusted  two 
good,  able-bodied  friends  with  the  charge  of  guarding  the 
street  corners  nearest  to  the  penitentiary  during  the  night  and 
to  come  to  our  aid  if  necessary.  About  midnight  all  my  people 
were  at  their  posts,  and  after  the  night  watchman  had  passed 
down  the  street  I  approached  the  door  of  the  penitentiary.  I 
had  covered  my  feet  with  rubber  shoes,  so  as  to  make  my  step 
inaudible.  A  second  pair  of  rubber  shoes  I  had  with  me  for 
Kinkel.  In  my  belt  I  carried  the  pistols  given  to  me  by  Dr. 
Falkenthal ;  in  one  pocket  a  well-sharpened  dirk  and  in  another 
a  slungshot,  with  which  to  arm  Kinkel  in  case  of  stress.  I  had 
thrown  across  my  shoulders  a  large  cloak  with  sleeves,  which 
should  serve  Kinkel  as  a  first  wrap.  So  equipped  I  softly 
opened  the  postern  gate  to  step  into  the  gateway  of  the  prison. 
I  left  that  little  gate  ajar  and  the  key  sticking  in  the  lock.  The 
gateway  was  dimly  lighted  by  a  lantern  hanging  from  the 
ceiling.  My  first  task  was  to  prevent  the  opening  from  the 
inside  of  the  director's  door  on  the  right,  and  of  the  guard- 
room door  on  the  left,  and  I  did  so  by  tying  the  doorhandles 
to  the  iron  fastening  of  the  bell  rope  with  stout  strings.  This 
was  the  most  delicate  piece  of  work  I  had  to  do.  Nothing 

[303] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
moved.  My  gaze  was  riveted  on  the  end  of  the  passage  oppo- 
site where  Brune  was  to  appear  with  Kinkel. 

So  I  waited.  One  minute  elapsed  after  another,  but  all 
remained  still.  I  waited  a  full  quarter  of  an  hour,  but  nothing 
stirred.  What  did  this  mean?  According  to  all  calculations 
they  ought  to  have  joined  me  some  time  ago.  My  situation 
began  to  appear  to  me  very  precarious.  Was  Brune  after  all 
faithless?  I  took  one  of  my  pistols  out  of  my  belt  and  held  it 
in  my  left  hand  ready  to  fire,  and  my  dirk  in  the  right.  But 
I  resolved  to  remain  at  my  post  until  I  could  say  to  myself 
that  the  last  chance  of  success  was  gone.  Half  an  hour  had 
passed  and  still  everything  was  quiet  as  the  grave.  Suddenly  I 
heard  a  faint  rustle,  and  at  the  other  end  of  the  gateway  I 
saw  a  dark  figure  appear  like  a  specter  as  if  it  had  stepped  out 
of  the  wall.  My  hands  closed  more  tightly  on  my  weapons. 
The  next  moment  I  recognized  in  the  dim  light  the  form  of 
Brune.  There  he  was  at  last,  but  alone.  He  put  his  finger  upon 
his  lips  and  approached  me.  I  awaited  him  ready  for  the 
worst. 

"lam  unfortunate,"  he  whispered  with  his  mouth  at  my 
ear.  "  I  have  tried  everything,  I  have  failed.  The  keys  were 
not  in  the  locker.  Come  to  me  to-morrow  and  get  your  money 
back." 

I  said  nothing  in  reply,  but  quickly  untied  the  strings 
from  the  door  handles,  right  and  left,  and  then  stepped  out 
through  the  postern  gate,  locked  it,  and  put  the  key  into  my 
pocket.  I  was  hardly  on  the  street  when  Leddihn  and  Poritz 
hastened  to  join  me.  With  a  few  words  I  told  them  what  had 
happened.  "  We  were  afraid  you  had  been  trapped,"  said 
Leddihn.  "  You  stayed  so  long  inside  that  we  were  on  the 
point  of  coming  after  you  to  fetch  you  out." 

Soon  we  reached  Kruger's  hotel,  where    Hensel    stood 

[304] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
ready  with  his  carriage  to  take  Kinkel  and  me  away.  The  dis- 
appointment that  followed  my  report  was  terrible. 

"  But  there  is  something  more  to  do  this  night,"  said 
I,  "  for  my  relays  stand  on  the  road  deep  into  Mecklenburg. 
We  must  order  them  off." 

I  stepped  into  the  carriage,  an  open  vehicle  with  a  top 
over  the  back  seat.  Hensel  took  the  reins,  and  so  we  drove 
away.  It  was  a  melancholy  journey.  We  were  on  the  road 
something  over  three  hours  when  we  observed  sparks  of  fire 
sputtering  from  a  black  object  that  came  toward  us.  We 
quickly  recognized  it  to  be  a  carriage.  I  had  steel  and  flint 
at  hand  and  also  struck  sparks.  This  was  the  signal  of  recog- 
nition that  I  had  agreed  upon  with  my  Mecklenburg  friends. 
The  carriage  coming  toward  us  stopped  and  so  did  we. 

"Is  this  the  right  one?"  asked  a  voice.  This  was  the 
concerted  question. 

"  It  is  the  right  one,"  I  replied,  "  but  our  enterprise  has 
failed.  Pray  turn  back  and  advise  the  next  relay  and  re- 
quest our  friends  there  to  pass  on  the  word  in  this  way.  But 
for  Heaven's  sake  keep  silent  about  the  rest,  lest  all  may  be 
lost." 

"Of  course,  but  what  a  confounded  disappointment! 
How  did  the  failure  happen?  " 

"  Another  time.  Good-night." 

The  two  carriages  turned.  We  drove  back  in  the  direction 
of  Spandau,  but  very  slowly,  almost  as  if  a  part  of  a  funeral 
procession,  both  sitting  silent.  I  tormented  myself  with  the 
gravest  reproaches.  Could  not  the  unfortunate  accident  that 
had  crossed  our  plan  easily  have  been  prevented?  Could  we 
not  have  duplicated  the  keys  to  the  cell  as  well  as  those  to  the 
postern  gate  and  the  Revier  room?  Certainly.  But  why  had 
this  not  been  done?  Why  had  Brune  not  thought  of  it?  But 

[305] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
as  Brune  had  not  done  so,  was  it  not  my  duty  to  see  to  it?  I 
had  neglected  that  duty.  Mine,  mine  only,  was  the  fault  of  this 
terrible  miscarriage.  Mine  the  responsibility  that  Kinkel  was 
not  now  a  free  man  hurrying  to  the  seacoast  behind  fleet  horses. 
The  fruit  of  long  and  dangerous  labor  had  recklessly  been 
jeopardized  by  my  negligence.  Would  I  ever  be  able  again  to 
reknit  the  torn  threads  of  the  scheme?  And,  if  so,  was  it  not 
probable  that  through  the  improvidence  of  some  one  of  the 
participants  rumors  of  what  had  happened  would  get  abroad 
and  Kinkel  would  be  surrounded  with  the  severest  measures 
of  precaution  and  even  carried  into  another  and  more  secure 
dungeon?  But  if  nothing  of  this  did  happen — where  was  the 
money  entrusted  to  me?  No  longer  in  my  possession — in  the 
hands  of  another  man  who  might  keep  it  if  he  would,  and  I 
perfectly  powerless  to  recover  it.  And  thus  Kinkel's  horrible 
lot  might  be  sealed  forever  through  my  guilt.  Thus  my  con- 
science put  itself  to  the  rack  in  that  terrible  night. 

At  last  Hensel  interrupted  the  silence.  "  How  would  it 
be,"  he  said,  "  if  we  stopped  for  a  few  hours  in  Oranienburg? 
We  could  there  feed  our  horses,  sleep  a  little,  and  then  com- 
fortably drive  on." 

I  was  content.  I  began  to  feel  very  much  exhausted;  and 
then,  if  of  last  night's  happenings  anything  had  got  abroad 
in  Spandau  and  thereby  any  danger  threatened,  the  prudent 
and  watchful  Kriiger,  I  felt  sure,  would  send  somebody  to  find 
us  on  the  road  and  to  give  warning. 

It  was  very  dark  when  we  arrived  at  a  hotel  in  Oranien- 
burg. After  I  had  permitted  my  thoughts  to  torment  me  a 
little  longer,  I  fell  asleep  at  last.  When  I  awoke  light  shone 
through  the  windows  of  my  room,  and  with  me  awoke  also  the 
consciousness  of  the  whole  weight  of  our  failure,  with  even 
greater  clearness  than  during  the  past  night.  Such  awaken- 

[306] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
ings  belong  to  the  unhappiest  moments  of  human  life.  We 
breakfasted  late,  and  it  was  on  this  occasion  that  for  the  first 
time  I  saw  my  companion,  Mr.  Hensel,  in  clear  daylight.  I 
had  met  him  at  Kriiger's  and  on  our  night  drive  only  in  the 
dark.  The  stately  broad-shouldered  figure  and  the  long  dark 
beard  had  then  struck  my  attention;  but  I  could  now  see  the 
clear,  shrewd,  and  at  the  same  time  bold,  sparkle  of  his  eyes, 
and  the  expression  of  his  face,  which  betokened  a  strong  will 
as  well  as  sincerity  and  kindness  of  heart.  Hensel  observed 
that  I  was  in  low  spirits  and  tried  to  put  a  pleasant  face  upon 
things.  He  thought  that  our  friends  in  Spandau  were  not  only 
faithful,  but  also  discreet,  that  the  officers  of  the  penitentiary 
in  their  own  interest  would  keep  silent,  and  that  a  new  attempt 
would  soon  be  possible.  I  willingly  agreed  with  him.  In  fact 
I  was  busily  thinking  of  what  was  now  to  be  done,  and  such 
a  thought  is  always  the  most  effective  antidote  for  discourage- 
ments. I  have  frequently  in  life  had  the  experience  that  when 
we  are  struck  by  an  especially  heavy  blow,  we  can  do  nothing 
better  than  to  present  to  our  minds  all,  even  the  worst,  possible 
features  of  trouble  that  may  still  be  in  store  for  us,  and  so 
in  our  imagination  drink  the  cup  of  bitterness  down  to  the  last 
drop;  but  then  to  turn  our  thoughts  to  the  future  and  to  oc- 
cupy them  entirely  with  that  which  must  be  done  to  prevent 
further  misfortune,  to  repair  the  damage  done,  and  to  replace 
what  has  been  lost  by  something  equally  desirable.  This  is  a 
sure  and  rapid  cure;  for  the  consequences  of  the  misfortune 
hardly  ever  will  be  as  disastrous  as  imagined.  Of  course,  I  do 
not  apply  this  to  the  loss  of  one  very  dear. 

In  returning  to  Spandau  we  were  in  no  hurry.  We  even 
thought  that  it  would  be  more  prudent  to  arrive  there  in  the 
dark,  and  therefore  started  only  after  noon  at  a  slow  trot. 
Arrived  in  Spandau,  I  learned  from  Kriiger  that  all  had  re- 

[307] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
mained  quiet.  I  forthwith  went  to  Brune's  rooms.  I  found 
him  there,  evidently  expecting  me.  The  little  cigar  box  stood 
on  the  table. 

"  That  was  cursed  ill-luck  last  night,"  he  said,  "  but  it 
was  not  my  fault.  Everything  was  in  the  best  of  order,  but 
as  I  opened  the  locker  in  the  Revier  room  I  could  not  find  the 
keys  to  the  cell.  I  searched  and  searched  for  them,  but  they 
were  not  there.  This  morning  I  learned  that  Inspector  Semm- 
ler  had  accidentally,  instead  of  placing  them  in  the  locker,  put 
them  into  his  pocket  and  carried  them  with  him  to  his  home." 

For  a  moment  he  was  silent.  "  There  is  the  money,"  he 
continued,  pointing  to  the  cigar  box;  "  take  it;  count  it  first;  no 
thaler  is  missing." 

I  could  not  refrain  from  shaking  the  man's  hand  and  in 
my  heart  asking  his  pardon  for  my  doubts. 

"  What  comes  from  you,"  I  answered,  repeating  his  words 
of  yesterday,  "  will  not  be  counted.  But  what  now?  I  do  not 
give  up.  Must  we  wait  until  you  have  the  night  watch  again?  " 

"  We  might  wait,"  he  replied,  "  and  in  the  meantime  du- 
plicate all  the  keys  that  we  need  so  that  this  difficulty  may  not 
arise  again;  but,"  he  added,  "  I  have  thought  over  the  matter 
to-day.  It  is  a  disgrace  that  that  man  should  sit  in  the  convict's 
cell  a  day  longer — I  will  try  to  help  him  this  very  night,  if  he 
has  courage  enough  for  a  break-neck  feat." 

"  What,  this  night?  " 

"  Yes,  this  night.  Now  listen."  Then  Brune  told  me  that 
the  officer  who  during  the  coming  night  should  have  the  watch 
on  the  upper  stories,  had  been  taken  ill,  and  he,  Brune,  had 
offered  to  take  his  place.  Thereupon  he  had  thought  he  might 
without  much  difficulty  take  Kinkel  into  the  loft  under  the 
roof  and  let  him  down  with  a  rope  from  out  of  one  of  the  dor- 
mer windows  on  the  street.  To  this  end  he  would  of  course 

[308] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
again  require  the  keys  to  the  cell,  but  after  the  accident  of  last 
night,  when  the  inspector  took  them  home  with  him  through 
mere  thoughtlessness,  they  would  certainly  be  again  in  their 
accustomed  place.  I  should  only  see  to  it  that  the  street  below 
was  kept  free,  while  Kinkel  was  let  down  from  the  roof,  and 
that  he  then  be  promptly  received  and  carried  off.  "It  is  a 
somewhat  perilous  undertaking,"  Brune  added;  "from  the 
dormer  window  down  to  the  street  it  may  be  sixty  feet,  but  if 
the  Herr  Professor  has  courage,  I  think  we  may  succeed." 

"  I  vouch  for  Kinkel's  courage,"  I  said;  "  what  does  not 
a  prisoner  dare  for  liberty?  " 

The  details  were  rapidly  considered  and  determined  upon. 
I  undertook  to  procure  the  necessary  rope  for  Brune.  He  was 
to  wind  it  about  his  body  under  the  overcoat  and  take  it  into 
the  penitentiary  building  in  that  way.  About  midnight  I  was 
to  be  in  the  dark  recess  of  the  door  of  the  house  opposite  the 
gate  of  the  penitentiary,  from  which  I  could  observe  the  dor- 
mer windows  of  the  building;  when  in  one  of  them  I  should 
see  the  light  of  a  lantern  move  up  and  down  perpendicularly, 
three  times,  that  would  be  a  sign  that  everything  was  in 
order  for  the  descent.  If  standing  in  my  sheltered  place 
I  then  struck  sparks  with  my  steel  and  flint,  Brune  would 
understand  from  this  signal  that  everything  was  in  safe  order 
on  the  street. 

With  a  hearty  handshake  I  took  leave  of  Brune  and  hur- 
ried to  Kriiger's  hotel.  Poritz  and  Leddihn,  whom  I  had 
quickly  sent  for,  procured  at  once  a  rope  of  the  necessary 
length  and  strength,  and  carried  it  to  Brune's  dwelling.  But 
after  freeing  Kinkel  how  should  we  get  him  away  from 
Spandau?  I  had  no  relays  of  horses  and  carriages  on  the  road; 
the  preceding  night  everything  had  fitted  in  so  excellently,  but 
now?  Fortunately  Hensel  was  still  in  Kriiger's  house.  When 

[309] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
I  told  him  what  was  to  happen  in  the  next  few  hours,  he  broke 
out  in  loud  jubilation. 

"  I  will  take  you  with  my  own  horses  as  far  as  they  can 
travel,"  he  exclaimed. 

"But  our  nearest  friend  is  in  Neu-Strelitz,"  I  replied; 
"  that  is  a  good  many  miles  from  here.  Will  your  horses  hold 
out  that  distance?  " 

"  The  devil  take  them  if  they  don't,"  said  Hensel.  We 
resolved  then  to  risk  it  and  to  confide  ourselves  to  benignant 
fate.  A  short  conversation  with  Poritz  and  Leddihn  followed 
about  the  measures  necessary  to  keep  the  streets  clear  of  un- 
welcome intruders,  while  Kinkel  was  swinging  down  on  his 
rope.  Those  measures  were  simple.  My  friends  were  to  occupy 
the  street  corners  with  their  stalwart  fellows  whom  they  had 
already  employed  last  night,  and  if  some  belated  reveler 
should  show  himself,  they  were  to  simulate  intoxication  and 
use  all  sorts  of  means  to  divert  the  unwelcome  person  from 
our  path.  In  case  of  necessity  they  were  to  use  force.  Poritz 
and  Leddihn  vouched  for  everything. 

"  Happy  coincidence,"  chuckled  Kriiger.  "  This  evening 
some  of  the  officers  of  the  penitentiary  are  to  celebrate  a  birth- 
day in  this  hotel.  There  will  be  a  bowl  of  punch,  and  I  will 
make  that  punch  especially  irresistible." 

"  And  you  will  detain  those  officers  long  enough?  " 

"  You  may  be  sure  of  that.  Not  one  of  them  will  cross 
your  way."  This  prospect  put  us  into  the  best  of  humor, 
and  we  had  a  cosy  little  supper  together.  Our  thoughts  were, 
however,  constantly  directed  to  the  accidents  that  might  again 
play  mischief  with  us,  and  fortunately  an  important  possi- 
bility occurred  to  us. 

At  the  time  of  Kinkel's  descent  from  the  dormer  window 
hanging  on  his  rope,  the  rubbing  of  the  rope  against  the  edge 

[310] 


KINKEL  S    ESCAPE 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
of  the  brick  wall  might  easily  loosen  tiles  and  brick  which 
then  would  fall  down  and  produce  a  loud  clatter.  We  there- 
fore resolved  that  Hensel  should  take  his  carriage  immediately 
after  midnight  slowly  along  the  street  so  that  the  rattle  of 
the  vehicle  on  the  rough  cobblestone  pavement  might  drown 
all  other  noises. 

Shortly  before  midnight  I  stood,  equipped  as  on  the  night 
before,  well  hidden  in  the  dark  recess  of  the  house  door  oppo- 
site the  penitentiary.  The  street  corners  right  and  left  were, 
according  to  agreement,  properly  watched,  but  our  friends 
kept  themselves  as  much  as  possible  concealed.  A  few  minutes 
later  the  night  watchman  shuffled  down  the  street  and  when  im- 
mediately in  front  of  me  swung  his  rattle  and  called  the  hour 
of  twelve.  Then  he  slouched  quietly  on  and  disappeared.  What 
would  I  have  given  for  a  roaring  storm  and  a  splashing  rain! 
But  the  night  was  perfectly  still.  My  eye  was  riveted  to  the 
roof  of  the  penitentiary  building,  the  dormer  windows  of  which 
I  could  scarcely  distinguish.  The  street  lights  flared  dimly. 
Suddenly  there  appeared  a  light  above  by  which  I  could  ob- 
serve the  frame  of  one  of  the  dormer  windows ;  it  moved  three 
times  up  and  down;  that  was  the  signal  hoped  for.  With  an 
eager  glance  I  examined  the  street  right  and  left.  Nothing 
stirred.  Then  on  my  part  I  gave  the  signal  agreed  upon,  strik- 
ing sparks.  A  second  later  the  light  above  disappeared  and  I 
perceived  a  dark  object  slowly  moving  across  the  edge  of 
the  wall.  My  heart  beat  violently  and  drops  of  perspiration 
stood  upon  my  forehead.  Then  the  thing  I  had  apprehended 
actually  happened:  tiles  and  brick,  loosened  by  the  rubbing 
rope,  rained  down  upon  the  pavement  with  a  loud  clatter. 
"  Now,  good  Heaven,  help  us!  "  At  the  same  moment  Hensel's 
carriage  cajne  rumbling  over  the  cobblestones.  The  noise  of 
the  falling  tiles  and  brick  was  no  longer  audible.  But  would 

[311] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
they  not  strike  Kinkel's  head  and  benumb  him?  Now  the  dark 
object  had  almost  reached  the  ground.  I  jumped  forward  and 
touched  him ;  it  was  indeed  my  friend,  and  there  he  stood  alive 
and  on  his  feet.  "  This  is  a  bold  deed,"  were  the  first  words  he 
said  to  me.  "  Thank  God,"  I  answered.  "  Now  off  with  the 
rope  and  away."  I  labored  in  vain  to  untie  the  rope  that  was 
wound  around  his  body. 

"  I  cannot  help  you,"  Kinkel  whispered,  "  for  the  rope 
has  fearfully  lacerated  both  my  hands."  I  pulled  out  my  dirk 
and  with  great  effort  I  succeeded  in  cutting  the  rope,  the  long 
end  of  which,  as  soon  as  it  was  free,  was  quickly  pulled  up. 
While  I  threw  a  cloak  around  Kinkel's  shoulders  and  helped 
him  get  into  the  rubber  shoes  he  looked  anxiously  around. 
Hensel's  carriage  had  turned  and  was  coming  slowly  back. 

"  What  carriage  is  that? "  Kinkel  asked. 

"  Our  carriage." 

Dark  figures  showed  themselves  at  the  street  corners  and 
approached  us. 

"  For  Heaven's  sake,  what  people  are  those? " 

7  Our  friends." 

At  a  little  distance  we  heard  male  voices  sing,  "  Here  we 
sit  gayly  together." 

"  What  is  that?  "  asked  Kinkel,  while  we  hurried  through 
a  side  street  toward  Kriiger's  hotel. 

"  Your  jailers  around  a  bowl  of  punch." 

"  Capital!  "  said  Kinkel.  We  entered  the  hotel  through  a 
back  door  and  soon  found  ourselves  in  a  room  in  which  Kinkel 
was  to  put  on  the  clothes  that  we  had  bought  for  him — a  black 
cloth  suit,  a  big  bear-skin  overcoat,  and  a  cap  like  those  worn 
by  Prussian  forest  officers.  From  a  room  near  by  sounded  the 
voices  of  the  revelers.  Kriiger,  who  had  stood  a  few  minutes 
looking  on    while  Kinkel  was  exchanging  his  convict's  garb 

[312] 


UNI\ 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
for  an  honest  man's  dress,  suddenly  went  out  with  a  peculiarly 
sly  smile.  When  he  returned  carrying  a  few  filled  glasses, 
he  said,  "  Herr  Professor,  in  a  room  near  by  some  of  your 
jailers  are  sittirlg  around  a  bowl  of  punch.  I  have  just  asked 
them  whether  they  would  not  permit  me  to  take  some  for  a  few 
friends  of  mine  who  have  just  arrived.  They  had  no  objection. 
Now,  Herr  Professor,  let  us  drink  your  health  first  out  of 
the  bowl  of  your  jailers."  We  found  it  difficult  not  to  break 
out  in  loud  laughter.  Kinkel  was  now  in  his  citizen's  clothes, 
and  his  lacerated  hands  were  washed  and  bandaged  with  hand- 
kerchiefs. He  thanked  his  faithful  friends  with  a  few  words 
which  brought  tears  to  their  eyes.  Then  we  jumped  into  Hen- 
sel's  vehicle.  The  penitentiary  officers  were  still  singing  and 
laughing  around  their  punch  bowl. 

We  had  agreed  that  our  carriage  should  leave  Spandau 
through  the  Potsdam  gate  which  opens  upon  the  road  to  Ham- 
burg, and  then  turn  in  a  different  direction  in  order  to  mislead 
the  pursuit  that  was  sure  to  follow.  So  we  rattled  at  a  fast  trot 
through  the  gate,  and  this  ruse  succeeded  so  well  that,  as  we 
learned  later,  we  were  really  the  next  day,  in  accordance  with 
the  report  of  the  guard  at  the  gate,  pursued  in  the  direction 
of  Hamburg.  Before  we  reached  the  little  town  of  Nauen 
we  turned  to  the  right  on  a  field  road  and  reached  the  Berlin 
Strelitz  turnpike  near  the  Sandkrug.  Our  bays  made  the  best 
of  their  speed. 

Only  when  the  keen  night  air  touched  his  face,  Kinkel 
seemed  to  come  to  a  clear  consciousness  of  what  had  happened. 
"  I  would  like  to  hold  your  hand  in  mine,"  he  said,  "  but  I 
cannot ;  my  hands  are  too  much  torn." 

He  then  put  his  arm  around  me  and  pressed  me  once  and 
again.  I  would  not  let  him  express  his  gratitude  in  words,  but 
told  him  how  the  night  before  everything  had  been  so  well  ar- 

[  313  ] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
ranged,  and  how  our  plan  had  been  crossed  by  an  unfortunate 
accident,  and  what  a  mournful  ride  I  had  had  in  the  same 
carriage  only  twenty-four  hours  before. 

"  That  was  the  most  terrible  night  of  my  life,"  said  Kin- 
kel.  "  After  Brune  had  instructed  me  to  hold  myself  ready,  I 
waited  for  the  appointed  hour  with  the  most  confident  expecta- 
tion. Before  midnight  I  was  up.  I  listened  as  only  an  ear 
practiced  in  long  isolation  can  listen.  Now  and  then  I  heard 
a  distinct  noise  of  steps  in  the  corridors,  but  they  would 
not  approach.  I  heard  the  clocks  outside  strike  the  hours. 
When  midnight  was  past  the  thought  first  rose  in  me :  *  Is  it  pos- 
sible that  this  should  fail?  '  Minute  after  minute  went  by,  and 
all  remained  quiet.  Then  I  was  seized  by  an  anguish  which  I 
cannot  describe.  The  perspiration  dropped  from  my  forehead. 
Until  one  o'clock  I  had  still  a  little  hope,  but  when  even  then 
Brune  did  not  come  I  gave  up  everything  for  lost.  The  most 
gruesome  pictures  rose  in  my  imagination.  The  whole  design 
had  surely  been  discovered.  You  were  in  the  hands  of  the 
police  and  also  imprisoned  for  many  years.  I  saw  myself  a 
miserable  wreck  in  convict's  garb.  My  wife  and  my  children 
perished  in  misery.  I  shook  the  rails  in  my  cell  like  a  madman. 
Then  I  dropped  exhausted  upon  my  straw  bed.  I  believe  1 
was  nearly  insane." 

"  Well,  and  this  night?  " 

"  Oh,  this  night,"  Kinkel  exclaimed,  "  I  could  hardly  trust 
my  eyes  and  ears  when  Brune  with  a  lantern  in  his  hand  came 
into  my  cell  and  whispered  to  me,  '  Get  up  quickly,  Herr  Pro- 
fessor; now  you  shall  get  out.'  That  was  an  electric  shock. 
In  a  moment  I  was  on  my  feet,  but  do  you  know  that  to-night 
again  everything  was  on  the  point  of  going  wrong?  " 

I  listened  eagerly,  and  again  and  again  a  cold  shiver  ran 
down  my  back  as  Kinkel  proceeded  with  his  story.  Half  an 

[314] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
hour  before  midnight  Brune  was  in  Kinkel's  cell.  This  time 
he  had  found  the  keys  in  the  locker  and  had  opened  with  two  of 
them  the  cell  doors.  After  having  called  Kinkel  up,  he  at- 
tempted to  open,  with  a  third  key,  the  door  in  the  wooden 
railing.  He  tried  and  tried,  but  in  vain.  The  key  did  not  fit. 
Afterwards  it  appeared  that  the  key  with  which  Brune  tried 
to  open  the  cell  door  belonged  to  the  window  shutters,  but  that 
one  of  the  keys  for  the  doors  of  the  cell  also  opened  the  door 
of  the  wooden  railing.  Thus  Brune  had  the  true  key  in  his 
hand  without  knowing  it  or  without  thinking  of  it  in  the  excite- 
ment. So  Kinkel  stood  on  one  and  Brune  on  the  other  side  of 
the  wooden  railing,  baffled  and  for  a  moment  utterly  bewil- 
dered. Then  Kinkel  grasped  with  the  strength  of  despair  one 
of  the  wooden  rails,  trying  to  break  it  by  throwing  the  whole 
weight  of  his  body  against  it,  but  in  vain.  Brune  worked  hard 
with  his  sword  to  the  same  end,  also  in  vain.  Then  he  said: 
"  Herr  Professor,  you  shall  get  out  to-night  even  if  it  costs 
me  my  life."  He  left  the  cell  and  in  a  minute  returned  with 
an  ax  in  his  hand.  With  a  few  vigorous  blows  two  of  the 
rails  were  cut  loose.  Using  the  ax  as  a  lever  he  effected  an 
opening  which  just  permitted  Kinkel's  broad-shouldered  body 
to  pass  through.  But  had  not  the  blows  of  Brune's  ax 
alarmed  the  whole  house?  The  two  listened  with  suspended 
breath.  All  remained  quiet.  In  fact,  Brune  had  been  no  less 
prudent  than  daring.  Before  he  swung  his  ax  he  had  care- 
fully closed  the  two  thick  doors  of  the  cell.  The  sound  of  the 
blows  which  filled  the  interior  of  the  cell  was,  as  to  the  outside, 
very  much  deadened  by  the  thick  walls  and  by  the  heavy  doors. 
They  not  only  had  not  wakened  any  of  the  sleepers,  but  had 
not  reached  those  that  were  awake,  or  if  they  did  make  any 
impression,  it  was  as  if  the  noise  had  come  from  the  outside 
of  the  building. 

[315] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
Now  Brune  left  the  cell  with  Kinkel,  the  doors  of  which 
he  again  locked.  Then  they  had  to  walk  through  corridors,  up 
and  down  various  stairways,  and  even  to  pass  a  night  watch- 
man. By  Brune's  clever  management  they  succeeded  in  doing 
this.  At  last  they  reached  the  loft  under  the  roof  and  the 
dormer  window,  through  which  the  dangerous  ride  through  the 
air  had  to  be  undertaken.  Kinkel  confessed  to  me  that  he  was 
seized  with  a  dizzy  horror  when  he  looked  down  upon  the 
street  below  and  then  upon  the  thin  rope  which  was  to  bear 
him;  but  when  he  saw  my  sparkling  signal,  the  meaning  of 
which  Brune  explained  to  him  in  a  whisper,  he  regained  his 
composure  and  boldly  swung  out  over  the  precipice.  At  once 
the  tiles  and  bricks  began  to  rain  about  his  head,  but  none  of 
them  struck  him,  only  the  hands  which  at  first  had  taken  too 
high  a  hold  on  the  rope  and  through  which  it  had  to  glide,  suf- 
fered grievously.  That  was,  however,  a  slight  wound  for  so 
hard  a  struggle  and  so  great  a  victory. 

When  Kinkel  finished  his  narrative,  Hensel  took  out  of 
the  hamper  one  of  the  bottles  of  precious  Rhine  wine  that 
Kruger  had  provided  us  with  for  our  journey,  and  we 
drank  to  the  health  of  the  brave  Brune,  without  whose  reso- 
luteness and  fidelity  all  our  plans  and  labors  would  have  come 
to  nothing.  It  was  a  happy,  enthusiastic  moment,  which  made 
us  almost  forget  that  so  long  as  we  were  on  German  soil  the 
danger  was  not  over,  and  our  success  not  yet  complete. 


[316] 


CHAPTER   XI 

r\T  a  sharp  trot  we  sped  on  through  the  night.  I  still  hear 
Hensel's  commanding  call,  "  Boom  up !  Boom  up !  "  as  often 
as  on  the  turnpike  we  reached  a  toll  gate.  Through  Oranien- 
burg,  Teschendorf,  Lowenberg,  we  flew  without  stop,  but 
when  we  approached  the  little  town  of  Gransee,  nearly  thirty- 
five  miles  from  Spandau,  it  became,  clear  that  our  two  good 
bays  would  soon  break  down  unless  we  gave  them  rest  and  some 
refreshment.  So  we  stopped  at  a  wayside  tavern,  near  Gransee, 
and  fed  them — then  forward  again. 

As  daylight  appeared  I  could  for  the  first  time  look  at 
Kinkel  with  leisure.  How  he  was  changed!  He  whom  a  little 
more  than  a  year  ago  I  had  known  as  a  youthful  man,  the  very 
picture  of  health  and  vigor!  His  closely  clipped  hair  was 
now  tinged  with  gray,  the  color  of  the  face  a  dead  yellow, 
the  skin  like  parchment,  the  cheeks  thin  and  flabby,  the  nose 
sharp,  and  the  face  deeply  furrowed.  If  I  had  met  him  on  the 
street  unexpectedly  I  should  scarcely  have  recognized  him. 

"  They  have  dealt  hard  with  you,"  I  said. 

"Yes,  it  was  the  highest  time  for  me  to  breathe  free  air 
again.  A  year  or  two  more  of  that  kind  of  life  and  I  should 
have  been  burned  to  ashes,  devastated  body  and  soul.  Nobody 
who  has  not  himself  suffered  it  knows  what  solitary  confine- 
ment means  and  the  debasement  of  being  treated  like  a  com- 
mon criminal.  But  now,"  he  added  gayly,  "  now  human  life 
begins  once  more." 

And  then  he  described  in  his  humorous  way  how  at  that 
very  moment  in  the  penitentiary  in  Spandau  they  would  be 

[317] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
discovering  that  Kinkel,  like  a  bird,  had  escaped  from  his  cell, 
and  how  one  turnkey  after  another  with  a  troubled  face  would 
run  to  the  director  and  the  whole  gang  of  them  would  put 
their  heads  together  and  notify  the  higher  authorities ;  and  how 
they  would  then  examine  the  guards  of  the  city  gates,  and 
how  they  would  hear  of  a  carriage  that  between  twelve  and 
one  o'clock  had  rattled  through  the  Potsdam  gate,  and  how 
then  a  troop  of  mounted  constables  would  be  hurried  after  us 
in  the  direction  of  Nauen  and  Hamburg,  while  we  were  paying 
a  visit  to  our  friends  in  Mecklenburg. 

"  I  only  wish,"  remarked  Hensel  anxiously,  "  that  we 
could  make  that  visit  a  little  more  quickly."  The  sun  was  up 
when  we  greeted  the  boundary  pole  of  Mecklenburg.  Even 
there  we  did  not  by  any  means  feel  quite  safe,  although  a  little 
safer  than  on  Prussian  territory.  The  trot  of  our  horses  became 
slower  and  slower.  One  of  them  appeared  utterly  exhausted. 
So  we  had  to  stop  at  the  nearest  Mecklenburg  inn,  in  Dannen- 
walde.  There  Hensel  washed  the  horses  with  warm  water, 
which  helped  a  little,  but  only  for  a  short  time.  In  the  town 
of  Furstenberg  we  had  to  unharness  them  for  a  longer  stop 
because  they  could  go  no  farther,  having  put  over  fifty  miles 
behind  them.  But  at  last  we  reached  Strelitz  safely,  where  in 
the  person  of  Judge  Petermann,  a  city  magistrate,  we  had  an 
enthusiastic  friend  and  protector,  who  already  on  the  preced- 
ing night  had  been  on  the  road  with  one  of  the  relay  carriages. 

Petermann  received  us  with  so  demonstrative  a  joy  that  I 
feared  he  would  not  refrain  from  proclaiming  the  happy  event 
from  the  windows  of  his  house  to  the  passersby.  In  fact,  he 
could  not  deny  himself  the  pleasure  of  bringing  in  some 
friends.  Soon  we  sat  down  to  a  plentiful  meal,  and  with  mer- 
rily clinking  glasses  we  waited  for  another  carriage  and  fresh 
horses.  There  we  took  a  cordial  leave  of  our  friend  Hensel. 

[318] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
His  two  fine  bays  had  lain  down  as  soon  as  they  reached  the 
stable,  one  of  them,  as  I  learned  later,  never  to  rise  again. 
Honor  to  his  memory! 

Petermann  accompanied  us  on  the  further  drive,  which 
now  went  on  with  uninterrupted  rapidity.  In  Neubrandenburg, 
as  well  as  in  Teterow,  we  changed  horses,  and  by  seven  o'clock 
the  next  morning,  the  8th  of  November,  we  arrived  at  the 
"  White  Cross  Inn,"  on  the  Neubrandenburg  turnpike  near  the 
city  of  Rostock.  Petermann  went  at  once  to  fetch  our  friend 
Moritz  Wiggers,  whose  turn  it  now  was  to  take  the  management 
of  affairs.  Without  delay  he  sent  us  in  a  wagon,  accompanied 
by  a  Rostock  merchant  by  the  name  of  Blume,  to  Warnemunde, 
a  seaside  resort  on  a  fine  harbor,  where  we  were  cared  for  in 
Wohlert's  Hotel;  Petermann,  happy  beyond  measure,  that  his 
part  of  the  adventure  was  so  successfully  accomplished,  turned 
back  to  Strelitz.  On  our  journey  we  had  accustomed  ourselves  to 
call  Kinkel  by  the  name  of  Kaiser  and  me  by  the  name  of  Hen- 
sel,  and  these  names  we  inscribed  upon  the  hotel  register. 

Wiggers  had  recommended  Warnemunde  to  us  as  a  place 
of  patriarchal  customs  and  conditions,  where  there  existed 
police  only  in  name  and  where  the  local  authorities,  if  they 
should  discover  us,  would  make  it  their  business  to  protect, 
rather  than  betray  us.  There,  he  thought,  it  would  be  safe  to 
remain  until  a  more  secure  asylum  or  a  favorable  opportunity 
to  cross  the  sea  could  be  found.  From  the  shore  of  Warne- 
miinde  for  the  first  time  in  my  life  I  saw  the  sea.  I  had  longed 
for  that  spectacle,  but  the  first  view  of  it  was  disappointing. 
The  horizon  appeared  to  me  much  narrower  and  the  waves 
which  rushed  on  white-capped,  as  the  northeast  wind  drove 
them  in,  much  smaller  than  I  had  pictured  them  in  my  imagina- 
tion. I  was  soon  to  make  better  acquaintance  with  the  sea  and 
to  learn  to  look  at  it  with  greater  respect  and  higher  enjoyment. 

[319] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
However,  we  were  little  disposed  to  give  ourselves  to  the  con- 
templation of  nature.  Kinkel  had  spent  two,  and  I  three  nights 
in  a  carriage  on  the  highroad.  We  were  extremely  fatigued 
and  in  a  few  minutes  lay  sound  asleep. 

The  next  day  Wiggers  returned  with  the  news  that  there 
was  only  one  brig  on  the  roads,  but  that  she  was  not  ready  to 
sail.  A  friend  of  his,  Mr.  Brockelmann,  a  merchant  and  manu- 
facturer, thought  it  safest  to  send  us  across  the  sea  on  one  of 
his  own  ships  and  to  shelter  us  in  his  own  house  until  that  ship 
could  be  started.  Thus  we  left  our  hotel,  and  a  Warnemiinde 
pilotboat  carried  us  up  the  Warnow  River.  We  landed  near  a 
little  village,  where  Brockelmann  awaited  us  with  his  carriage. 

We  saw  before  us  a  stalwart  man  of  about  fifty  years,  with 
gray  hair  and  whiskers,  but  with  rosy  complexion  and  youthful 
vivacity  in  expression  and  movement.  He  welcomed  us  with 
joyous  cordiality,  and  after  the  first  few  minutes  of  our  ac- 
quaintance, we  were  like  old  friends.  In  him  we  recognized  a 
self-made  man  in  the  best  sense  of  the  term,  a  man  who  had 
carved  his  own  fortune,  who  could  look  back  with  self-respect 
upon  what  he  had  accomplished  and  who  found  in  his  successes 
an  inspiration  for  further  endeavor  and  for  an  enterprising 
and  self-sacrificing  public  spirit.  His  broad  humanity,  which 
recognized  the  right  of  everyone  to  a  just  estimation  of  his  true 
value  and  his  claim  to  a  corresponding  chance  of  advancement, 
had  made  him  from  his  early  youth  a  liberal,  and  after  the 
revolution  of  1848,  a  democrat.  He  had  practically  carried  out 
his  principles  and  theories  as  far  as  possible,  and  he  was 
therefore  widely  known  as  a  protector  of  the  poor  and  op- 
pressed. But  especially  his  employees,  his  working  people,  of 
whom  there  was  a  large  number  in  his  factories,  revered  and 
loved  him  as  a  father.  When  he  offered  us  his  house  as  an 
asylum  he  could  well  assure  us  that  he  had  workingmen  enough 

[  320  ] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
who  at  his  request  would  fight  for  us  and  in  case  of  need  hold 
possession  of  our  asylum  long  enough  to  give  us  time  for 
escape.  However,  it  would  not  come  to  this,  he  said,  as  the 
arrival  of  such  guests  as  "  the  Herren  Kaiser  and  Hensel "  in 
his  house  would  attract  no  attention,  and  even  if  our  secret  were 
suspected  by  any  of  his  people,  there  were  no  traitors  among 
them.  In  short,  he  could  vouch  for  everything.  Thus  we  drove 
to  his  house,  which  was  situated  in  a  suburb  of  Rostock. 
There  we  had  some  days  of  rest  and  plenty.  Brockelmann, 
his  wife,  his  eldest  daughter,  her  fiance,  the  merchant 
Schwartz,  and  a  little  circle  of  friends*  overwhelmed  us 
with  the  most  lavish  attentions.  How  can  I  describe  the  care 
with  which  the  mistress  of  the  house  herself  washed  Kinkel's 
wounded  hands  and  bandaged  and  nursed  th£m!  And  the 
meals  which,  according  to  Mecklenburg  notions  of  hospitality, 
were  necessary!  The  indispensable  first  breakfast  and  second 
breakfast  and  sometimes  third  breakfast,  and  the  noon  re- 
past, and  the  afternoon  coffee  with  cake,  and  the  suppers,  and 
the  "little  something"  before  going  to  bed,  and  the  night- 
caps, which  succeeded  one  another  at  incredibly  short  inter- 
vals; and  the  evenings,  during  which  Wiggers  played  to  us 
Beethoven's  sonatas  with  a  masterly  hand,  reminding  Kinkel 
of  the  musical  language  of  his  Johanna!  And  the  occasional 
surprises  when  Brockelmann  had  the  revolutionary  hymn,  the 
"  Marseillaise,"  played  by  a  brass  band  in  the  house ! 

With  all  this,  however,  the  more  serious  side  of  our  situa- 
tion was  not  forgotten.  Brockelmann  had  ordered  one  of  his 
own  vessels,  a  little  schooner  of  forty  tons,  which  had  proved 
a  good  sailer,  to  be  prepared  for  us.  The  "  Little  Anna  " — this 
was  the  name  of  the  schooner — received  a  cargo  of  wheat  for 
England,  which  was  put  on  board  as  rapidly  as  possible,  and 
Sunday,  the  17th  of  November,  was  the  day  fixed  for  our 

[321  ] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
departure,   if  by  that  time   the  long-prevailing   northeaster 
should  have  changed  into  a  more  favorable  wind. 

In  the  meantime  the  news  of  Kinkel's  flight  had  gone 
through  all  the  newspapers  and  caused  everywhere  a  great 
stir.  Our  friends  in  Rostock  informed  themselves  with  minute 
care  of  all  that  was  printed  and  said  and  rumored  about  the 
matter.  The  "  warrant  of  capture,"  which  the  Prussian  Govern- 
ment had  published  in  the  newspapers  concerning  the  "  escaped 
convict,"  Kinkel,  our  friends  brought  to  us  at  tea-time,  and 
it  was  read  aloud  with  all  sorts  of  irreverent  comments,  amid 
great  hilarity.  Of  the  part  I  had  in  the  liberation  of  Kinkel 
the  authorities  and  the  public  knew  at  that  time  nothing. 
Especial  pleasure  we  derived  from  the  newspaper  reports 
which  announced  Kinkel's  arrival  at  several  different  places 
at  the  same  time.  The  liberal  Pastor  Dulon  in  Bremen,  follow- 
ing a  true  instinct,  described  in  his  journal  with  much  detail 
when  and  how  Kinkel  had  passed  through  Bremen  and  sailed 
for  England.  Some  of  my  friends  reported  his  arrival  in 
Zurich  and  in  Paris.  One  paper  brought  a  circumstantial  re- 
port of  a  banquet  that  had  been  tendered  to  Kinkel  by  the 
German  refugees  in  Paris,  and  even  the  speech  he  had  made  on 
the  occasion.  Thus  nothing  remained  untried  to  confuse  the 
Prussian  police  and  to  mislead  its  searches. 

But  there  were  also  some  alarm  signals  of  a  disquieting 
nature.  Wiggers  received  on  the  14th  of  November  a  letter, 
without  signature,  from  the  neighborhood  of  Strelitz  in  an 
unknown  handwriting,  as  follows :  "  Expedite  as  much  as  pos- 
sible the  shipment  of  goods  entrusted  to  you.  There  is  danger 
in  delay."  Probably  the  authorities  had  discovered  our  tracks 
between  Spandau  and  Strelitz,  and  were  pursuing  them  fur- 
ther. Then  on  Friday,  November  15,  a  stranger  called  upon 
Wiggers,  who  represented  himself  to  be  our  friend,  "  Farmer 

[322] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
Hensel,"  and  inquired  whether  Kinkel,  whom  he  had  taken  in 
his  carriage  from  Spandau  to  Strelitz,  was  still  in  Rostock. 
Wiggers  had  indeed  heard  us  speak  of  him  with  expressions  of 
the  highest  confidence,  but  he  apprehended  the  stranger  might 
not  be  Hensel  himself,  but  a  spy  in  disguise.  So  he  feigned 
the  utmost  astonishment  at  the  news  that  Kinkel  was  in  Ros- 
tock, but  promised  to  gather  information,  and  to  communicate 
the  result  to  the  stranger,  whom  he  requested  to  call  again  the 
next  day.  The  occurrence  was  at  once  reported  to  us,  and  the 
description  given  by  Wiggers  of  the  appearance  of  the  man 
persuaded  us  that  the  stranger  was  the  true  Hensel,  who,  as 
he  had  said  to  Wiggers,  had  come  to  Rostock  merely  to  quiet  his 
anxiety  about  our  safety.  Kinkel  and  I  wished  very  much  to 
see  him  and  to  press  once  more  the  hand  of  our  brave  and  faith- 
ful friend,  but  Wiggers,  who  had  become  seriously  worried  by 
the  warning  received  from  Strelitz,  counseled  the  utmost  cir- 
cumspection and  promised  us  to  transmit  to  Hensel,  who  had 
said  that  he  was  to  remain  in  Rostock  until  the  18th,  our  warm- 
est greetings  after  we  should  have  reached  the  open  sea. 

Thus  we  found  in  spite  of  all  agreeable  surroundings 
considerable  comfort  in  the  report  that  the  northeast  wind 
had  gone  down;  that  the  "Little  Anna"  was  anchoring  at 
Warnemunde,  and  that  everything  would  be  ready  for  our 
departure  on  the  17th  of  November. 

On  a  frosty  Sunday  morning  we  sailed,  in  the  company 
of  an  armed  escort,  which  our  friends  had  composed  of  relia- 
ble men  in  sufficient  numbers,  as  they  believed,  to  resist  a  pos- 
sible attack  by  the  police,  in  two  boats  across  the  bay  to  the 
anchorage  of  the  "  Little  Anna."  Arrived  on  board,  Mr. 
Brockelmann  gave  the  captain,  who  was  not  a  little  astonished 
at  receiving  a  visit  from  so  large  a  company,  his  instructions: 
"  You  take  these  two  gentlemen,"  he  said,  pointing  to  Kinkel 

[323] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
and  myself,  "  with  you  to  Newcastle.  You  pass  Helsingoer 
without  stopping,  and  pay  the  Sound  dues  on  your  return.  In 
stress  of  weather  you  will  beach  the  vessel  on  the  Swedish 
shore  rather  than  return  to  a  German  port.  If  the  wind  suits 
you  better  for  another  harbor  than  Newcastle  on  the  English 
or  Scottish  coast,  you  will  sail  there.  The  important  thing  is 
that  you  reach  England  as  quickly  as  possible.  I  shall  remem- 
ber you  if  you  carry  out  my  orders  punctually."  The  captain, 
whose  name  was  Niemann,  may  have  received  these  instruc- 
tions with  some  amazement,  but  he  promised  to  do  his  best. 

Some  of  our  friends  remained  with  us  until  the  steam  tug 
hitched  to  the  "  Little  Anna  "  had  carried  us  a  short  distance 
into  the  open  sea.  Then  came  the  leave-taking.'  As  Wiggers 
tells  in  an  elaborate  description  of  the  scene  in  a  German  peri- 
odical, Kinkel  threw  himself  sobbing  into  his  arms  and  said:  "  I 
do  not  know  whether  I  shall  rejoice  at  my  rescue,  or  shall  mourn 
that  like  a  criminal  and  an  outcast  I  have  to  flee  my  dear  f  ather- 
lan,d!"  Then  our  friends  descended  into  the  tug,  and  with 
grateful  hearts  we  bade  them  farewell.  They  fired  a  salute 
with  their  pistols  and  steamed  back  to  Warnemunde,  where, 
according  to  Wiggers,  they  celebrated  the  accomplished  rescue 
with  a  joyous  feast. 

Kinkel  and  I  remained  on  the  poop  of  our  schooner  and 
gazed  after  the  little  steamboat  that  carried  our  good  friends 
away.  Then  our  eyes  rested  upon  the  shore  of  the  fatherland 
until  the  last  vestige  had  disappeared  in  the  dusk  of  the  even- 
ing. In  our  halting  conversation  now  and  then  the  question 
would  recur:  "  When  shall  we  return?  "  That  a  victorious  up- 
rising of  the  people  would  call  us  back,  we  both  hoped  fer- 
vently. It  was  a  hope  born  of  ardent  desire  and  nursed  by 
fond  illusions.  What  would  we  have  answered  the  prophet 
who  at  that  moment  had  told  us  that  first  I,  but  only  after 

[324] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
eleven  years,  would  again  put  my  foot  on  German  soil,  and 
then  not  as  a  German,  but  as  the  Minister  of  the  United  States 
of  America  to  Spain  on  my  return  to  my  new  home,  and  that 
Kinkel  would  have  to  wait  until,  after  the  war  between  Prus- 
sia and  Austria  in  1866,  the  former  Prince  of  Prussia  and 
commander  of  the  forces  that  had  taken  Kinkel  prisoner  near 
Rastatt,  now  king  and  president  of  the  North-German  Con- 
federation, would  open  to  him  once  more,  by  an  amnesty,  the 
door  of  the  Fatherland! 

We  did  not  quit  the  deck  until  it  was  dark.  The  cabin  of 
the  schooner  was  very  small.  Its  first  aspect  destroyed  in  me 
a  fond  imagining.  I  had  until  then  only  once  seen  a  seagoing 
ship,  a  brig,  which  at  the  time  when  I  attended  the  gymnasium 
had  been  brought  from  Holland  up  the  Rhine  and  anchored 
near  Cologne ;  but  I  could  see  that  ship  only  from  the  outside. 
My  conception  of  the  interior  of  the  ship  I  had  derived  from 
novels  and  descriptions  of  maritime  wars  which  I  had  read  as 
a  boy,  and  so  the  main  cabin  of  a  ship  stood  before  my  eyes 
as  a  spacious  room  well-fitted  out  with  furniture  and  the  walls 
decorated  with  trophies  of  muskets  and  pistols  and  cutlasses. 
Of  all  this  there  was  nothing  in  the  cabin  of  the  "  Little  Anna." 
It  measured  hardly  more  than  eight  feet  between  the  two 
berths,  one  on  each  side,  and  in  the  other  direction  hardly  more 
than  six.  It  was  so  low  that  Kinkel,  standing  upright,  touched 
the  ceiling  with  his  head.  In  the  center  there  was  a  little  table 
screwed  to  the  floor,  and  behind  it  a  small  sofa  covered  with 
black  haircloth;  just  large  enough  to  hold  Kinkel  and  me, 
sitting  close  together.  Above  the  table  was  suspended  a  lamp 
which  during  the  night  faintly  illumined  the  room.  The  berths, 
which  had  been  hastily  prepared  for  us,  were  a  foot  or  two 
above  the  floor  and  open,  so  that  when  we  were  in  bed  we 
could  see  one  another.  These  arrangements  appeared  to  be 

[325] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
very  different  from  those  of  the  proud  East  India  ships,  or 
of  the  frigates  which  I  had  found  so  enticingly  described  in 
my  books;  but  when  I  considered  that  this  was  after  all  an 
unusually  small  trading  schooner,  I  found  that  they  were  as 
practical  as  they  were  simple. 

Captain  Niemann,  who  had  so  unexpectedly  been  stirred 
up  from  his  winter's  rest  by  the  sudden  order  of  his  -master, 
probably  did  not  know  at  first  what  to  think  of  his  two  remark- 
able guests  on  the  "Little  Anna."  One  of  our  friends,  who 
had  accompanied  us  on  board,  had  by  some  hint  given  him  rea- 
son to  believe  that  we  were  bankrupt  merchants  forced  by 
unfortunate  circumstances  to  run  away  from  home;  but  the 
skipper  told  us  afterwards  he  could  not  make  his  theory  agree 
with  the  manifestations  of  respect  and  of  warm,  aye,  even 
enthusiastic,  attachment  with  which  our  friends  had  treated  us. 
However,  he  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  execute  orders  received. 
In  case  of  necessity  he  would  really  have  run  his  vessel  on 
shore  at  the  risk  of  losing  her.  In  the  meantime  he  took  very 
good  care  of  us.  The  captain  had  a  crew  of  seven  men :  a  mate, 
a  cook,  a  boy,  and  four  seamen.  Frau  Brockelmann  had  amply 
provided  us  with  all  sorts  of  delicacies,  foreseeing  that  the 
bill  of  fare  of  the  schooner's  kitchen  would  be  very  limited. 

At  first  the  sea  voyage  was  agreeable  enough.  A  gentle 
breeze  filled  the  sails,  and  the  ship  glided  along  pleasantly. 
But  as  morning  dawned,  wind  and  sea  became  more  lively 
and  Kinkel  reported  himself  seasick.  The  wind  increased,  the 
sea  ran  higher,  and  Kinkel  grew  more  and  more  miserable  as 
the  day  progressed.  He  gathered  himself  up  to  go  on  deck, 
but  soon  returned  to  his  berth.  I  tried  to  lift  him  up,  but 
in  vain.  After  a  few  hours  of  acute  suffering  he  became  quite 
desperate  in  his  torment  and  he  felt  that  he  was  going  to  die. 
He  had  a  mind  to  tell  the  captain  to  carry  him  to  the  nearest 

[  32G  ] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
port.  His  agony  seemed  to  him  intolerable.  Had  he  escaped 
from  prison  to  die  such  a  wretched  death?  It  is  recognized 
as  one  of  the  peculiarities  of  seasickness  that  those  who  do  not 
suffer  from  it  do  not  appreciate  the  sufferings  of  thos^e  who 
do,  and  that  the  sufferer  considers  the  indifference  of  the  well 
person  as  especially  hardhearted  and  exasperating.  That  was 
the  case  with  us.  I  felt  myself  uncommonly  well.  The  more 
the  "  Little  Anna  "  bobbed  up  and  down  in  the  waves,  the 
higher  rose  my  spirits.  I  felt  an  inordinate  appetite  which 
did  the  fullest  justice  to  the  accomplishments  of  our  cook. 
This  joyous  feeling  I  could  not  entirely  conceal  from  Kinkel, 
although  I  deplored  very  sincerely  his  sufferings,  which 
probably  were  aggravated  through  the  nervous  condition  re- 
sulting from  his  long  imprisonment.  I  thought  I  could  raise 
him  up  by  making  fun  of  his  fear  of  immediate  death,  but 
that  would  not  do  at  all,  as  Kinkel  believed  in  all  seriousness 
that  his  life  was  in  danger.  My  jokes  sounded  to  him  like  un- 
feeling recklessness,  and  I  had  soon  to  change  my  tone  in 
order  to  cheer  him. 

In  this  condition  we  passed  Helsingoer,  the  toll-gate  of 
the  Sound  dues,  and  with  it  the  last  place  in  which  our  liberty 
might  possibly  have  been  in  danger,  and  so  we  entered  the 
Kattegat.  The  sea  had  been  wild  enough  in  the  Sound,  but  in 
the  Kattegat  it  was  much  wilder.  The  winds  seemed  to  blow 
alternately  from  all  points  of  the  compass,  and  we  cruised  two 
days  between  the  Skagen,  the  projecting  headland  of  Den- 
mark, and  the  high  rocks  of  Sweden  and  Norway,  until  we 
reached  the  more  spacious  basin  of  the  Skagerack.  But  there 
too,  and  as  we  at  last  entered  the  open  North  Sea,  the  "  dirty 
weather,"  as  our  sailors  called  it,  continued  without  change. 
At  times  the  wind  grew  so  violent  that  Captain  Niemann 
recognized   it  as    a  real   gale.  Like   a   nutshell  the   "  Little 

[327] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
Anna  "  jumped  up  and  down  on  the  angry  billows.  The  sea 
constantly  washed  the  deck,  where  I  kept  myself  all  the  time 
that  Kinkel  did  not  need  me  below;  and  in  order  not  to  be 
washed  overboard,  I  had  the  mate  bind  me  fast  to  the  main- 
mast. So  I  gained  a  vivid  impression  of  the  constantly  chang- 
ing grandeur  of  the  sea,  which  at  the  first  view  from  Warne- 
miinde  had  failed  to  impress  me.  Now  I  was  fascinated  by  the 
sensation  to  such  a  degree  that  I  could  hardly  tear  myself 
away,  and  every  minute  I  had  to  stay  below  appeared  to  me 
like  an  irretrievable  loss. 

Kinkel  continued  seasick  several  days,  but  he  gradually 
became  aware  of  how  much  seasickness  a  man  can  endure  with- 
out fatal  result.  By  degrees  his  suffering  diminished;  he  went 
on  deck  with  me  and  began  to  appreciate  the  poetry  of  the  sea 
voyage  and  then  forgave  me  that  I  had  refused  to  believe  in 
the  deadly  character  of  the  malady.  The  bad  weather  continued 
without  interruption  ten  days  and  nights.  At  times  the  fury 
of  the  elements  made  cooking  impossible.  The  most  that  could 
be  done  was  to  prepare  some  coffee,  and  beyond  that  we  lived 
on  biscuits,  cold  meats  and  herring,  but  we  remained  in  good 
spirits  and  began  to  enjoy  the  humor  of  our  situation.  Two 
things  impressed  me  especially — the  one  repeated  itself  every 
morning  during  the  stormy  time:  Shortly  after  daybreak  the 
mate  regularly  came  to  the  cabin  to  bring  us  our  coffee  while 
we  were  still  lying  in  our  berths.  When  the  sea  thundered  fu- 
riously against  the  sides  of  the  ship  and  crashed  down  on  the 
deck  so  that  we  could  hardly  hear  our  own  words,  and  when 
then  the  "  Little  Anna  "  bounced  up  and  down  and  rolled  to 
and  fro,  like  a  crazy  thing,  so  that  we  had  to  hold  on  to  some- 
thing in  order  not  to  be  tumbled  out  of  our  berths,  the  brave 
seaman  stood  there  in  a  dripping  suit  of  oilskin,  spread  his 
legs  far  apart,  held  on  with  one  hand  to  the  little  table,  and 

[328] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
balanced  in  the  other,  with  astonishing  skill,  a  bowl  of  coffee 
without  spilling  a  drop,  and  screamed  at  us  to  the  utmost  of 
his  power  to  make  us  understand  the  surprising  intel- 
ligence that  the  weather  was  still  bad  and  we  could  not 
expect  to  have  any  cooking  done.  We  had  therefore  to  be  sat- 
isfied with  what  he  then  offered  us.  Thirty  years  later,  when 
I  was  Secretary  of  the  Interior  in  the  government  of  the 
United  States,  I  visited,  during  the  presidential  campaign  of 
188.0,  the  town  of  Rondout  on  the  Hudson,  where  I  had  to 
deliver  a  speech.  After  the  meeting  I  crossed  the  river  on  a 
ferryboat  in  order  to  take  the  railroad  train  to  New  York 
at  the  station  of  Rhinebeck  opposite.  In  the  dusk  of  the  even- 
ing a  man  approached  me  on  the  ferryboat  and  spoke  to  me 
in  German.  "  Excuse  me,"  he  said,  "  that  I  address  you.  I 
should  like  to  know  whether  you  recognize  me." 

I  regretted  not  being  able  to  do  so. 

"  Do  you  not  remember,"  he  asked,  "  the  mate  on  the  '  Lit- 
tle Anna,'  Captain  Niemann,  on  which  you  and  Professor 
Kinkel,  in  November,  1850,  sailed  from  Rostock  to  England?  " 

"What!"  I  exclaimed,  "do  I  remember  the  mate  who 
every  morning  stood  in  the  cabin  with  his  bowl  of  coffee  and 
executed  such  wonderful  dances?  Yes." 

"And  you  always  made  such  funny  remarks  about  it 
which  set  me  laughing,  if  I  could  understand  them  in  the  ter- 
rible noise.  That  mate  was  I." 

I  was  much  rejoiced,  and  we  shook  hands  vigorously.  I 
asked  how  he  was  doing  and  he  replied,  "  Very  well,  indeed." 

I  invited  him  to  visit  me  in  Washington,  which  he  promised 
to  do.  I  should  have  been  glad  to  continue  the  conversation 
longer,  but  in  the  meantime  we  had  reached  the  eastern  bank 
of  the  Hudson.  My  railroad  train  stood  ready  and  in  a  few 
minutes  I  was  on  the  way  to  New  York.  The  mate  did  not 

[  329  ] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL   SCHURZ 
keep  his  promise  to  visit  me  in  Washington  and  I  have  never 
seen  him  again. 

The  other  picture  still  present  to  my  mind  was  more  serious 
in  its  involuntary  ludicrousness.  While  we  were  driven  about  on 
the  North  Sea  by  violent  gales  the  sky  was  constantly  covered 
with  dense  clouds,  so  that  no  regular  observation  could  be 
had  to  determine  where  we  were.  The  captain  indeed  endeav- 
ored to  ascertain  our  whereabouts  as  well  as  he  could  by  the 
so-called  dead  reckoning;  but  after  we  had  been  so  going  on 
for  several  days  he  declared  to  us  quite  frankly  that  he  had 
only  a  very  vague  idea  of  our  latitude  and  longitude.  Now 
we  saw  him  frequently  in  the  cabin  sitting  on  the  little  sofa 
behind  the  table  with  his  head  bent  thoughtfully  over  his  chart, 
and  as  the  matter  was  important  to  us,  too,  we  tried  to  help 
him  in  his  calculations.  Kinkel,  after  he  had  overcome  the 
seasickness,  and  myself  spent  almost  the  whole  day  on  deck 
in  spite  of  the  storm,  and  as  we  had  observed  the  drifting 
of  the  vessel  from  its  true  course  we  formed  an  opinion  on 
that  matter,  to  which  the  captain  listened  with  great  ap- 
parent respect;  and  when  during  the  night  he  sat  under  the 
lamp  over  his  chart,  Kinkel  and  I  stuck  our  heads  out  of  our 
berths,  holding  fast  to  some  object  so  that  we  could  not  fall 
out,  and  looking  at  the  chart  in  this  position,  discussed 
with  the  captain  the  question  of  latitude  and  longitude,  of  the 
force  of  the  wind,  of  the  current,  of  the  water,  and  so  on. 
Finally  we  would  agree  upon  some  point  at  which  the  ship 
ought  to  be  at  that  time,  and  that  point  was  then  solemnly 
marked  with  a  pencil  on  the  chart.  Then  the  "navigation 
council,"  as  we  called  it,  adjourned.  The  captain  mounted 
again  to  the  deck  and  Kinkel  and  I  crept  back  into  our  berths 
to  sleep. 

On  the  tenth  day  of  our  voyage  the  sky  cleared  at  last, 

[330] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
and  the  first  actual  observation  showed  that  our  calculations 
had  not  been  so  very  wrong  and  that  three  or  four  days  would 
bring  us  to  the  English  coast.  So  we  headed  for  the  port  of 
Newcastle.  Kinkel  had  in  the  meantime  recovered  all  his  bright 
humor,  and  would  not  permit  me  to  remind  him  of  his  out- 
breaks of  seasick  despair.  We  were  of  good  cheer,  but  rejoiced 
with  our  whole  hearts  when  we  saw  the  first  strip  of  land  rising 
above  the  horizon.  Then  the  wind  turned  toward  the  south 
and  the  captain  declared  that  we  would  have  to  cruise  a  consid- 
erable time  against  it  in  order  to  reach  the  port  of  Newcastle. 
The  navigation  council  therefore  met  once  more  and  resolved 
to  steer  in  a  northerly  direction  toward  Leith,  the  harbor  of 
Edinburgh.  This  was  done,  and  the  next  evening  we  saw  the 
mighty  rocks  that  guard  the  entrance  of  that  port.  Then  the 
wind  suddenly  died  away  and  our  sails  flapped.  Kinkel  and  I 
quoted  for  our  consolation  various  verses  from  Homer:  how 
the  angry  gods  prevented  the  glorious  sufferer  Odysseus,  by 
the  most  malicious  tricks,  from  reaching  his  beloved  home, 
Ithaca,  but  how  at  last,  while  he  was  asleep,  he  was  wafted  by 
gentle  breezes  to  the  hospitable  shores  of  his  island.  And  so 
it  happened  to  us.  After  we  had  gone  to  bed  in  a  somewhat 
surly  state  of  mind,  a  light  wind  arose  that  carried  us  with  the 
most  gentle  movement  toward  the  long-wished-for  port,  and 
when  we  awoke  next  morning  the  "Little  Anna"  lay  at  anchor. 
Now  the  good  captain,  Niemann,  learned  for  the  first 
time  what  kind  of  passengers  he  had  carried  across  the  North 
Sea  under  the  names  of  Kaiser  and  Hensel.  He  confessed  to 
us  that  the  matter  had  appeared  to  him  from  the  beginning 
quite  suspicious,  but  he  expressed  in  the  heartiest  manner  his 
joy  that,  even  ignorantly,  he  had  contributed  his  part  to  Kin- 
kel's  liberation.  Kinkel  and  I  were  impatient  to  get  to  land. 
Fortunately  Mr.  Brockelmann  had  not  only  given  us  letters 

[331] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
to  his  correspondent  in  Newcastle,  but  also  to  a  merchant  in 
Leith,  by  the  name  of  McLaren.  These  letters  we  wished  to 
present  at  once,  but  the  captain  reminded  us  that  the  day  was 
Sunday,  on  which  a  Scottish  merchant  would  certainly  not  be 
found  in  his  counting-house,  and  he  did  not  know  how  we 
could  find  his  residence.  This  difficulty  we  recognized.  How- 
ever, we  were  heartily  tired  of  the  "  Little  Anna,"  with  its 
narrow  cabin  and  its  many  smells.  We  resolved,  therefore,  to 
make  our  toilet  and  to  go  ashore,  in  order  at  least  to  take  a 
look  at  Edinburgh.  We  also  hoped  to  find  shelter  in  some 
hotel.  It  was  a  clear,  sunny  winter  morning.  What  a  delight 
as  we  ascended  the  main  street  of  Leith  to  feel  that  we  had 
at  last  firm  ground  under  our  feet  again  and  that  we  could 
look  everyone  in  the  face  as  free  men!  At  last — all  danger  past, 
no  more  pursuit,  a  new  life  ahead!  It  was  glorious.  We  felt  like 
shouting  and  dancing,  but  bethought  ourselves  of  the  prob- 
able effect  such  conduct  would  have  on  the  natives.  We 
wandered  from  the  harbor  up  into  the  streets  of  Edin- 
burgh. These  streets  had  on  their  Sunday  look.  All  the  shops 
closed;  not  a  vehicle  breaking  the  stillness.  The  people  walked 
silently  to  church.  We  soon  noticed  that  many  of  the  passersby 
looked  at  us  with  an  air  of  surprise  and  curiosity,  and  before 
long  a  troop  of  boys  collected  around  us  and  pursued  us  with 
derisive  laughter.  We  looked  at  one  another  and  became  aware 
that  our  appearance  contrasted  strangely  indeed  with  that  of 
the  well-dressed  church-goers.  Kinkel  had  on  his  big  bearskin 
overcoat,  which  reached  down  to  his  feet;  his  beard,  which  he 
had  permitted  to  grow,  looked  like  a  rough  stubblefield — and 
at  that  time  a  full  beard  was,  in  Scotland,  regarded  as  an  im- 
possibility among  respectable  people.  On  his  head  he  wore  a 
cap  like  that  of  a  Prussian  forester.  Regulation  hats  we  did 
not  possess.  I  was  in  a  long  brown  overcoat  with  wide  sleeves 

[332] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
and  a  hood  lined  with  light  blue  cloth,  a  garment  which  in 
Switzerland  a  tailor  had  evolved  from  my  large  soldier's  cape. 
We  suddenly  became  conscious  of  making  very  startling 
figures  on  a  Sunday  morning  on  the  streets  of  this  Scottish 
capital,  and  were  no  longer  surprised  at  the  astonishment  of 
the  sober  church-goers  and  the  mockery  of  the  boys.  However, 
there  we  were.  We  could  make  no  change,  and  so  sauntered 
on  without  troubling  ourselves  about  the  feelings  of  the  others. 
We  looked  up  the  celebrated  Walter  Scott  monument  and 
several  of  the  famous  edifices,  and  then  went  on  and  up  to  the 
castle,  where  the  first  view  of  soldiers  in  the  splendid  Scottish 
Highland  uniform  burst  upon  us.  We  enjoyed  to  our  hearts' 
content  the  aspect  of  the  city  and  its  wonderfully  picturesque 
surroundings.  In  short,  we  found  Edinburgh  beautiful  beyond 
compare.  In  the  meantime  it  had  become  high  noon,  and  we 
began  to  feel  that  the  contemplation  of  the  most  magnificent 
view  does  not  satisfy  the  stomach.  The  imperious  desire  for 
a  solid  meal  moved  us  to  descend  from  the  castle  and  to  look 
about  for  a  hotel,  or  at  least  a  restaurant.  But  in  vain.  From 
the  outside  some  buildings  looked  like  public  houses,  but  no- 
where an  open  door.  One  or  two  we  tried  to  enter,  but  without 
success.  Now  our  utter  ignorance  of  the  English  language  be- 
came very  embarrassing.  Of  words  of  English  sound  we  knew 
only  two — "  beefsteak  "  and  "  sherry."  We  addressed  some  of 
the  passersby  in  German  and  also  in  French,  but  they  all  re- 
sponded after  a  long  and  astonished  stare  in  an  idiom  entirely 
unintelligible  to  us,  although  we  both  had  remarked  that  when 
we  heard  these  Scottish  people  talk  at  a  distance,  their  language 
sounded  very  much  like  German.  When  we  pronounced  our 
two  English  words,  "  beefsteak  "  and  "  sherry,"  those  whom  we 
addressed  pointed  toward  the  harbor.  Our  situation  became 
more  and  more  precarious,  as  the  sun  was  setting.  We  were 

[335] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
very  tired  from  pur  long  wanderings,  and  hunger  began  -to 
be  tormenting.  Nothing  seemed  to  remain  to  us  but  to  return 
to  the  "  Little  Anna." 

So  we  walked  back  to  the  harbor.  Unexpectedly  we  came 
upon  a  large  house  in  the  main  street  of  Leith,  the  front  of 
which  bore  the  inscription  "Black  Bull  Hotel,"  and  an  open 
door.  We  entered  at  once,  and  ascended  a  flight  of  stairs  to  the 
upper  story.  There  we  reached  a  spacious  hall  with  several 
doors,  one  of  which  was  ajar.  We  looked  through  it  into  a 
little  parlor  lighted  by  an  open  coal  fire.  Without  hesitation  we 
entered,  sat  down  in  comfortable  armchairs  near  the  fireplace, 
pulled  the  bell-rope  and  waited  for  further  dispensations  of 
fate.  Soon  there  appeared  in  the  door  a  man  in  the  dress  of 
a  waiter,  with  a  napkin  under  his  arm.  When  he  saw  the  two 
strange  figures  sitting  near  the  fireplace,  he  started  and  stood 
a  moment,  mute  and  immovable,  with  staring  eyes  and  open 
mouth.  We  could  not  keep  from  laughing  and  when  we 
laughed,  he  too  smiled,  but  with  a  somewhat  doubtful  expres- 
sion. Then  we  pronounced  our  two  English  words:  "Beef- 
steak, sherry!  "  The  waiter  stammered  an  unintelligible  reply. 
He  then  moved  back  toward  the  door  and  disappeared.  Soon 
he  returned  with  another  man,  also  a  waiter.  Both  stared  at 
us  and  exchanged  a  few  words  between  themselves.  We 
laughed  and  they  smiled.  Then  one  of  them  said  something  in 
English  which  sounded  like  a  question.  Again  we  spoke  our 
two  words — beefsteak  and  sherry.  Thereupon  both  nodded 
and  both  left  the  room.  After  a  little  while  a  third  man  ap- 
peared, who  wore  a  double-breasted  coat — evidently  the  land- 
lord. He  examined  our  appearance  with  a  knowing  look  and 
talked  to  us  in  a  friendly  tone.  Again  we  repeated  our  speech 
about  beefsteak  and  sherry  and  tried  to  signify  by  gestures 
that  we  were  hungry.  At  the  same  time  Kinkel  had  the  f ortu- 

[334] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
nate  idea  of  putting  his  hand  in  his  pocket  and  taking  out  a 
few  gold  pieces,  which  he  showed  to  the  landlord  on  his  open 
palm.  The  landlord  smiled  still  more,  made  a  little  bow,  and 
took  himself  away. 

After  a  while  the  waiter  whom  we  had  first  seen  set  the 
table  in  fine  style.  Now  we  sat  down  at  the  hospitable  board. 
Thereupon  the  waiter  lifted  the  silver  cover  from  the  soup  tu- 
reen he  had  brought  in,  with  a  mighty  swing,  pointed  a  fore- 
finger of  his  other  hand  into  the  open  dish,  and  said  slowly  and 
emphatically,  seeming  to  give  a  dab  to  the  contents  of  the  tu- 
reen with  each  syllable,  "  ox — tail — soup."  Then  he  looked  at  us 
triumphantly  and  stepped  behind  Kinkel's  chair.  This  was  my 
first  lesson  in  English.  Judging  from  the  similarity  with  Ger- 
man words,  we  could  well  imagine  what  the  words  "  ox  "  and 
"  soup  "  signified,  but  the  meaning  of  the  word  "  tail  "  became 
clear  to  us  only  when  we  saw. the  contents  of  the  tureen  on  our 
plates.  We  found  the  soup  delicious,  and  thus  our  English 
vocabulary  had  been  enriched  by  a  valuable  substantive.  The 
landlord  had  been  sensible  enough  not  to  confine  himself  to 
beefsteak  and  sherry  in  the  execution  of  the  desire  we  ex- 
pressed, but  to  give  us  a  complete  dinner,  to  which,  after  our 
long  sea  voyage  and  the  Sunday  walk  in  the  Scottish  capital, 
we  did  full  justice. 

By  all  sorts  of  ingenious  gestures  we  made  our  landlord 
understand  that  we  wanted  paper  and  ink  and  pens,  and  that 
we  would  then  wish  to  go  to  bed.  All  our  requests  were  under- 
stood and  complied  with.  We  now  added  postscripts  to  the 
letters,  which  we  had  written  to  our  families  during  the  last 
days  of  our  voyage  on  the  "  Little  Anna,"  giving  further  news 
of  our  happy  arrival  on  British  soil.  Kinkel  invited  his  wife 
to  meet  him  in  Paris,  and  then  wrote  a  long  letter  to  my  parents, 
in  which  he  said  to  them  many  kind  things  about  me. 

[335] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 

After  this  was  done  the  waiter  conducted  us  into  a  spa- 
cious sleeping  apartment  with  two  beds,  the  enormous  size  of 
which  astonished  us.  The  next  morning  we  bade  farewell  to 
our  kind  host,  grateful  to  him  for  having  tolerated  in  his  house 
two  such  uncanny  looking  guests,  without  luggage  and  with 
a  vocabulary  of  only  two  English  words. 

Now  we  called  at  the  counting-house  of  Mr.  McLaren, 
in  whom  we  found  a  very  pleasant  and  polite  gentleman,  speak- 
ing German  fluently.  Letters  from  Mr.  Brockelmann  had  told 
him  everything  about  Kinkel  and  myself ;  he  therefore  greeted 
us  with  much  cordiality,  insisted  on  having  our  luggage  taken 
from  the  "  Little  Anna  "  to  his  residence,  and  upon  devoting 
himself  entirely  to  us  so  long  as  we  might  choose  to  remain 
in  Edinburgh.  In  McLaren's  counting  house  we  took  leave  of 
the  good  Captain  Niemann.  I  have  never  seen  him  again,  but 
many  years  afterwards  I  learned  that  he  had  perished  on  the 
North  Sea  in  a  heavy  winter  gale. 

After  having  bought  some  presentable  clothing  and  de- 
cent hats,  thus  acquiring  an  appearance  similar  to  that  of  other 
men,  we  accepted  Mr.  McLaren's  invitation  to  see  Holyrood 
and  to  dine  at  his  house,  whereupon  we  took  the  night  train 
for  London. 

There  we  were  accredited  by  Brockelmann  to  the  banking 
house  of  Hambro  &  Son.  The  chief  of  the  house  placed  one 
of  his  clerks  at  our  disposal,  a  young  gentleman  from  Frank- 
furt, Mr.  Verhuven,  who  during  our  sojourn  in  London  was 
to  devote  his  whole  time  to  us.  He  was  an  exceedingly  agree- 
able companion,  and  with  him  we  hurried  during  several  days 
from  morning  until  night  from  place  to  place  to  see  the  great 
sights  of  London.  In  this  way  we  missed  the  many  visitors 
who  left  their  cards  at  our  hotel,  the  "  London  Coffee  House." 
Among  these  we  found  that  of  Charles  Dickens.     His  ac- 

[336] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
quaintance  we  should  have  been  especially  proud  to  make,  but 
to  our  great  regret  we  did  not  find  him  at  home  when  we 
returned  his  visit. 

In  those  days  I  received  the  first  distinct  impression  of 
the  English  language,  an  impression,  which  now,  after  long 
acquaintance  with  it,  I  can  hardly  explain  to  myself. 

The  celebrated  tragedian  Macready  was  playing  several 
Shakespearian  parts  in  one  of  the  London  theaters.  We  saw 
him  in  "  Macbeth  "  and  "  Henry  VIII."  Although  I  did  not 
understand  the  spoken  words,  I  was  sufficiently  conversant  with 
those  dramas  to  follow  the  dialogue,  but  I  had  hardly  any  en- 
joyment of  it,  as  the  impure  vowels  and  the  many  sibilants, 
the  hissing  consonants,  in  fact,  the  whole  sound  and  cadence 
of  the  English  language,  fell  upon  my  ear  so  unmusically,  so 
gratingly,  that  I  thought  it  a  language  that  I  would  never 
be  able  to  learn.  And,  indeed,  this  disagreeable  first  impres- 
sion long  prevented  me  from  taking  the  study  of  English 
seriously  in  hand. 

After  a  few  days  of  overfatiguing  pleasure  we  started 
for  Paris.  To  witness  the  meeting  of  Kinkel  and  his  wife,  after 
so  long  and  so  painful  a  separation,  was  hardly  less  delight- 
ful to  me  than  it  was  to  them.  But  with  this  delight  our  ar- 
rival in  Paris  imposed  upon  me  also  a  heavy  burden,  which 
consisted  in  sudden  "fame."  Although  I  had  received  in 
Rostock,  in  Edinburgh,  and  in  London,  in  small  circles  of 
friends,  praise  of  the  warmest  kind,  I  was  not  a  little  astonished 
and  embarrassed  when  I  learned  in  Paris  of  the  sensation 
created  by  the  liberation  of  Kinkel.  While  Kinkel  and  I  had 
been  crossing  the  North  Sea  in  the  cabin  of  the  "  Little  Anna," 
holding  navigation  councils  with  Captain  Niemann,  it  had 
become  generally  known  that  I,  a  student  of  the  university  of 
Bonn,  had  taken  a  somewhat  important  part  in  that  affair.  The 

[337] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
details  of  it  were  of  course  still  unknown  to  the  general  public, 
but  that  sort  of  mystery  is  notoriously  favorable  to  the  formation 
of  legends,  and  the  Liberal  newspapers  in  Germany  had  vied 
with  one  another  in  romantic  stories  about  the  adventure.  The 
favorite  and  most  accredited  of  those  fables  represented  me 
like  Blondel  before  the  dungeons  of  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion, 
attracting  the  attention  of  the  imprisoned  friend,  not  indeed 
with  the  lute  of  a  troubadour,  but  in  my  case  with  a  barrel 
organ,  and  thus  detecting  the  window  of  his  cell,  and  then 
effecting  his  escape  in  a  marvelous  way.  Another  myth 
brought  me  in  communication  with  a  Prussian  princess,  who,  in 
a  mysterious,  and  to  herself  very  perilous,  manner,  had  ad- 
vanced my  undertaking.  Several  newspapers  put  before  their 
readers  my  biography,  which  consisted  in  great  part  of  fan- 
tastic inventions,  inasmuch  as  there  was  but  little  to  say 
of  my  young  life.  I  even  became  the  subject  of  poetic  effu- 
sions, which  celebrated  me  in  all  sorts  of  sentimental  exaggera- 
tion. My  parents,  as  they  afterwards  wrote  me,  were  fairly 
flooded  with  congratulations,  which  in  great  part  came  from 
persons  entirely  unknown  to  them.  / 

Of  course,  the  praise  I  received  from  my  parents  and  the 
gratitude  expressed  by  Frau  Kinkel  and  her  children  were  a 
real  and  a  great  satisfaction  to  me,  but  the  extravagances 
which  I  had  to  read  in  German  papers  and  to  hear  in  the  con- 
stantly extending  circle  of  our  acquaintance  in  Paris,  dis- 
quieted me  seriously.  What  I  had  done  had  appeared  to  me 
as  nothing  so  extraordinary  as  to  merit  all  this  ado.  Then 
there  was  also  constantly  present  to  my  mind  the  thought, 
that  without  the  help  of  a  group  of  faithful  friends,  and 
especially  without  Brune's  bold  resolution  at  the  decisive 
moment,  all  my  efforts  would  have  been  in  vain.  And  of 
Brune,  who  in  those  days  was  subject  to  a  sharp,  and  dan- 

[338] 


ft 


i#lj 


or    Kinktl 


A    MYTHICAL    PORTRAIT    OF    SCHURZ 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
gerous  investigation,  I  could  not  speak  without  seriously 
compromising  him.  Thus  I  felt  in  submitting  to  praise  as  one 
who  accepts  credit  for  some  things,  at  least,  done  by  others, 
and  this  feeling  was  in  a  high  degree  painful  to  me.  Moreover, 
in  every  company  in  which  I  showed  myself  I  was  asked  time 
and  again :  "  How  did  you  succeed  in  carrying  out  this  bold 
stroke?  Tell  us."  Inasmuch  as  I  could  not  tell  the  whole 
truth,  I  preferred  to  tell  nothing.  New  legends  were  invented 
which  if  possible  were  still  more  fantastic  than  the  old  ones. 
This  was  so  oppressive  to  me  that  I  became  very  much  averse 
to  going  into  society,  and  I  fear  that  I  sometimes  repelled  those 
who  came  to  me  and  pressed  me  with  questions  in  an  almost 
unfriendly  manner. 

To  bring  the  narrative  of  this  episode  to  a  conclusion,  I 
must  add  something  about  the  further  fortunes  of  those  who 
cooperated  with  me  in  the  Kinkel  rescue.  On  the  day  after 
KinkeFs  escape  from  Spandau,  suspicion  fell  at  once  upon 
Brune.  He  was  forthwith  arrested  and  subjected  to  close 
examination.  At  first  nothing  could  be  proved  against  him; 
but  then,  so  it  was  reported,  they  placed  with  him  in  his  cell 
a  detective  whom  he  did  not  suspect  and  to  whom  in  a  careless 
way  he  confided  his  story.  He  was  thereupon  tried  and  con- 
demned to  three  years'  imprisonment.  After  he  had  served  his 
term  he  removed  with  his  family  to  his  old  home  in  Westphalia, 
where,  with  the  money  he  had  received  from  me,  and  which 
had  not  been  discovered,  he  could  comfortably  live  with  his 
family,  and  where  he  enjoyed  the  respect  of  his  neighbors. 
When  in  1888  I  visited  Germany  I  was  informed  by  a  friend 
of  Brune's,  that  Brune  was  at  the  time  a  janitor  in  a  great 
iron- works  in  Westphalia,  that  he  was  doing  well,  although  he 
began  to  feel  the  infirmities  of  old  age,  and  that  he  would 
like  to  know  something  about  me.  I  answered  at  once,  giving 

[339] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
him  all  the  desired  information  about  myself,  and  asked  him 
for  his  photograph.  The  same  friend  wrote  again  that  my 
letter  had  given  Brune  much  pleasure,  but  that  he  was  in  his 
old  age  still  more  stubborn  than  he  had  been  before,  that  he 
had  always  refused  to  be  photographed,  and  that  he  even  now 
could  not  be  moved  to  do  it.  I  desired  much  to  see  him  again 
and  had  already  made  arrangements  for  the  journey  when, 
to  my  intense  regret,  uncontrollable  circumstances  prevented 
it.  In  1891  I  received  in  America  a  letter  from  Brune's  daugh- 
ter in  which  she  informed  me  of  the  death  of  her  brave  father. 
My  friends  in  Spandau  had  rejoiced  so  much  at  the  suc- 
cess of  our  enterprise  that  they  could  not  conceal  their  joy; 
and  so  Kruger  was  involved  in  the  investigation  and  was 
brought  to  trial.  It  has  been  reported  that  he  willingly  con- 
fessed the  reception  he  had  accorded  to  me  in  his  hotel,  remark- 
ing at  the  same  time  that  it  was  his  business  as  a  hotel-keeper 
to  open  his  house  to  all  decently  appearing  strangers  who 
could  pay  their  bills;  that  he  could  not  always  investigate 
who  those  strangers  might  be,  and  what  were  their  circum- 
stances and  their  intentions.  For  instance:  immediately  after 
the  revolution  in  Berlin  on  the  18th  of  March,  1848,  a  very 
stately  looking  gentleman  with  some  friends  had  arrived  in  a 
carriage  at  the  door  of  his  inn.  Those  gentlemen  had  been  in 
great  excitement  and  hurry,  and  he  had  noticed  several  ex- 
traordinary things  in  their  conduct.  In  great  haste  they  had  de- 
parted, as  he  had  afterwards  heard,  for  England.  It  had  not 
occurred  to  him  for  a  single  moment  to  deny  to  them  as  un- 
known people  the  hospitality  of  his  house.  Only  later  he  had 
been  informed  that  the  most  distinguished  looking  of  these  gen- 
tlemen had  been  His  Royal  Highness,  the  Prince  of  Prussia 
(later  Emperor  William  I.).  This  narrative,  recounted  with 
the  quiet  smile  peculiar  to  Kruger,  is  said  to  have  put  the  au- 

[340] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
dience  present  at  the  trial  into  the  gayest  humor,  which  even 
the  court  could  not  entirely  resist.  Kriiger  was  pronounced  not 
guilty,  continued  to  live  quietly  in  Spandau,  and  died  in  the 
seventies,  much  esteemed  and  mourned  by  all  his  fellow- 
citizens. 

Poritz,  Leddihn,  and  Hensel  also  were  acquitted,  there 
being  no  conclusive  proof  against  them.  Poritz  and  Hensel 
died  not  many  years  afterwards.  I  saw  Leddihn  again  in  1888 
in  Berlin.  He  had  been  living  for  several  years  in  the  capital, 
was  a  well-to-do  citizen  and  a  member  of  the  city  council.  Three 
years  afterwards  the  newspapers  reported  his  death. 

It  is  remarkable  how  the  memory  of  that  adventure  has 
remained  alive  in  various  parts  of  Germany.  Hardly  a  year 
has  passed  since  1850  without  bringing  me  in  newspaper  arti- 
cles or  letters  new  versions  of  the  old  story,  some  of  them 
extremely  fantastic.  When  early  in  this  century  the  peniten- 
tiary building  in  Spandau  in  which  Kinkel  had  been  impris- 
oned was  taken  down  to  make  room  for  another  structure, 
some  citizens  of  Spandau  sent  me  a  photograph  of  it,  showing 
the  part  of  the  building  from  which  Kinkel  escaped,  Kinkel's 
ceil,  and  his  and  my  portrait,  taken  from  a  daguerreotype 
made  in  Paris,  in  December,  1850.  In  January,  1903,  nearly 
fifty-three  years  after  our  drive  from  Spandau  to  Rostock,  I 
received  a  pictorial  postal  card  signed  by  a  member  of  the 
German  Reichstag  and  several  other  gentlemen,  who  sent  me 
cordial  greetings  and  a  picture  of  the  "  White  Cross  Inn," 
near  Rostock,  marked  "  Kinkel's  Corner,"  where  we  had 
stopped  in  our  flight,  and  where  the  room  in  which  we  took  an 
early  breakfast  still  seems  to  be  pointed  out  to  guests. 


[S41] 


CHAPTER  XII 

1  HE  Kinkel  family  resolved  to  settle  down  in  England. 
Kinkel  occupied  himself  for  a  little  while  with  the  study 
of  the  most  important  architecture,  picture  galleries,  and  other 
art  collections  in  Paris,  and  then  left  for  London.  I  preferred 
to  stay  in  Paris  for  a  while,  partly  because  I  hoped  there  to  find 
special  facilities  for  continuing  my  favorite  studies,  partly  for 
the  reason  that  Paris  was  regarded  as  the  great  focus  of  liberal 
movements  on  the  continent,  and  I  believed  it  was  the  most 
convenient  point  for  one  wishing  to  work  as  a  newspaper  cor- 
respondent. Thus  we  parted. 

Now  I  had  to  begin  an  orderly  method  of  life  and  active 
self-support.  My  journalistic  connections  in  Germany  were 
quickly  resumed,  and  I  found  that  I  could  earn  180  francs  a 
month  by  letter- writing  for  newspapers.  I  resolved  to  limit  my 
regular  expenses  to  100  francs  a  month,  and  thus  to  lay  by  a 
little  reserve  for  emergencies.  This  presupposed  a  careful  econ- 
omy, but  I  soon  learned  with  how  little  money  a  person  may 
decently  get  along  in  Paris.  This  school  of  economy  has  always 
remained  useful  to  me.  I  shared  the  quarters  of  my  friend, 
Strodtmann,  who  had  already  been  in  Paris  for  some  time  and 
who  occupied  a  spacious  room  in  a  hotel  garni  in  the  Faubourg 
Montmartre.  But  this  common  housekeeping  did  not  last  long. 
Strodtmann  was  not  able  to  preserve  order  among  his  things, 
and  as  I,  too,  had  my  weaknesses  in  that  direction,  our  room, 
which  served  at  the  same  time  as  a  living  and  sleeping  apart- 
ment, often  presented  the  picture  of  most  wonderful  confusion. 
It  is  an  old  experience,  that  a  person  who  is  not  himself  very 
I orderly  finds  the  disorderliness  of  another  sometimes  quite  un- 

[  342  ] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
endurable.  So  it  was  with  us.  Of  course  it  appeared  to  me  that 
Strodtmann  was  the  greater  sinner,  and  in  this  I  was  not  alto- 
gether wrong.  He  was  somewhat  of  a  gourmet ;  he  would  study 
the  delicacies  exposed  in  the  show-windows  of  restaurants  with 
great  enthusiasm  and  discernment,  and  he  imagined  that  he  him- 
self could  prepare  fine  dishes.  He  therefore  made  on  our  grate- 
fire  all  sorts  of  experiments  in  roasting  and  frying  and  filled 
the  room  with  very  unwelcome  odors.  He  insisted  also  on  pre- 
paring our  coffee,  for  he  was  sure  that  he  knew  much  better 
to  do  that  than  I  or  anybody  else.  To  this  assumption  I  should 
have  offered  no  resistance  whatever;  but  as  he  handled  the 
burning  alcohol  of  his  machine  very  carelessly  it  happened 
that  he  set  on  fire  papers  and  clothes  that  were  lying  around 
everywhere,  and  finally  he  burnt  a  big  hole  into  the  most  valu- 
able article  of  my  wardrobe,  namely,  that  large  cloak  with  the 
hood,  belonging  to  my  Baden  officer's  period.  We  laughed 
together  about  his  awkwardness,  but  after  this  catastrophe  we 
agreed  in  the  most  amicable  spirit  that  there  was  not  room 
enough  in  one  apartment  for  two  persons  as  disorderly  as  our- 
selves. I  therefore  rented  a  room  on  the  Quai  Saint-Michel, 
No.  17,  and  Strodtmann  settled  down  in  the  Latin  Quarter 
in  my  neighborhood. 

The  house  No.  17  Quai  Saint-Michel  was  kept  by  a  widow, 
Mme.  Petit,  and  her  daughters,  two  unmarried  ladies  no  longer 
young.  The  house  was  in  all  things  decent,  respectable,  and 
strictly  regulated.  In  this  regard  it  distinguished  itself  advanta- 
geously from  most  of  the  hotel  garnis  in  the  Latin  Quarter. 
Those  of  Mme.  Petit's  tenants  whose  conduct  was  especially 
correct  were  rewarded  with  invitations,  from  time  to  time,  to 
take  tea  in  her  little  salon,  where  the  presence  of  the  two  faded 
daughters  and  some  friends  of  the  family  created  an  atmosphere 
of  extraordinary  dullness.  After  having  gone  through  that 

[343] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
experience  once  we  avoided  a  repetition.  My  room  in  the  house 
was,  according  to  my  notions,  quite  comfortable.  To  be  sure, 
the  windows  did  not  open  on  the  side  of  the  Seine,  but  they 
looked  into  a  narrow  and  dirty  side  street.  In  order  to  reach 
my  room  I  had  to  go  up  several  stairs  and  to  go  down  several 
other  stairs,  and  to  wander  through  a  long,  dark  corridor  and 
to  turn  various  corners;  but  that  did  not  disturb  me.  It 
was  rather  spacious,  had  a  floor  of  red  tiles,  upon  which  there 
were  a  few  diminutive  pieces  of  carpet,  several  chairs  fit  for  use, 
a  round  table,  a  fireplace,  a  wardrobe  for  my  clothes,  and  even 
a  piano,  which  was  indeed  very  old  and  bad,  but  might  have 
been  worse.  My  bed  stood  in  an  alcove,  and  by  means  of  chintz 
curtains  I  could  hide  it  from  the  gaze  of  visitors,  so  that  my 
room  looked  not  like  a  bedchamber,  but  like  a  little  salon, 
which  I  was  quite  proud  of.  For  this  dwelling  I  had 
to  pay  a  rent  of  thirty  francs  a  month,  a  sum  rather  high 
for  me;  but  I  thought  that  the  character  of  the  house 
would  otherwise  help  me  to  save.  My  first  breakfast  con- 
sisted of  a  cup  of  coffee,  which  I  prepared  myself,  or  a  glass 
of  wine  and  a  piece  of  bread,  sometimes  with  butter.  After 
having  worked  at  my  writing-table  until  noon  I  took  a  second 
breakfast  or  lunch  that  never  was  to  exceed  one-half  franc  in 
cost,  in  some  restaurant  of  the  Latin  Quarter,  and  in  the  even- 
ing I  dined  in  an  eating-house  kept  in  the  Rue  Saint-Germain 
l'Auxerois  near  the  Louvre,  that  was  kept  by  a  socialistic 
association  of  cooks,  the  Association  Fraternelle  des  Cuisiniers 
reunis.  Cooks,  waiters,  and  guests  addressed  one  another  ac- 
cording to  the  model  of  the  French  Revolution,  "  Citoyen,"  and 
this  pride  of  civic  equality  showed  itself  also  in  the  circum- 
stance that  the  citoyen- waiter  accepted  no  tip  from  the  citoyen* 
guest.  These  citoyens  furnished  for  one  franc  a  very  simple 
but  very  substantial  and  good  meal,  including  even  a  "  confi- 

[344] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
ture  "  as  a  dessert  and  a  glass  of  wine.  The  company  was 
mixed,  but  this  made  it  easier  for  us  to  imagine  ourselves  during 
the  meal  as  living  in  the  ideal  state  of  general  fraternity. 

Other  expenses,  of  laundry  and  of  an  occasional  fire  in  my 
room,  brought  the  amount  of  the  whole  budget  to  not  quite 
three  francs  a  day,  less  than  sixty  cents  in  American  money,  or 
ninety  to  ninety-three  francs  a  month.  I  could  permit  myself 
even  some  luxuries:  the  purchase  of  a  few  books,  some  of  which 
are  still  in  my  possesion;  also  occasional  tickets  for  the  par- 
terre in  the  Odeon  or  in  a  Faubourg  theatre;  now  and  then  a 
cup  of  coffee  on  the  Boulevard  and — only  now  and  then,  to  be 
sure — I  could  afford  to  see  Rachel  at  the  Theatre  Francais. 
Thus  I  managed  to  incur  no  debts,  to  save  a  small  reserve,  to 
be  obliged  to  nobody  for  anything,  and  to  feel  myself  quite 
independent  and  comfortable. 

Of  course  I  could  not,  under  such  circumstances,  indulge 
in  expensive  social  enjoyments.  Aside  from  an  occasional  visit 
to  the  salon  of  the  Countess  d'Agoult,  the  well-known  friend  of 
Franz  Liszt,  my  intercourse  remained  mainly  confined  to  Ger- 
man exiles,  some  students  and  young  artists  who  pursued  their 
studies  in  Paris,  and  also  some  young  Frenchmen  who  attended 
lectures  at  the  Sorbonne  or  other  institutions  of  learning,  and 
in  this  circle  I  found  very  agreeable  companions.  We  had 
every  week  a  "  musical  evening  " ;  sometimes  in  my  room,  in 
which  young  musicians — among  them  Reinecke,  who  after- 
wards became  the  famous  director  of  the  well-known  "  Ge- 
wandhaus  Concerts"  in  Leipzig — reviewed  the  most  recent 
composers,  and  now  and  then  produced  their  own  compositions, 
while  I  and  others  served  as  an  enthusiastic  public.  On  such 
occasions  we  used  to  drink  a  punch  which,  for  reasons  of  econ- 
omy, left  nothing  to  be  desired  in  point  of  weakness. 

In  this  circle  my  good  comrade,  Adolph  Strodtmann,  was 

[  345  ] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
a  general  favorite.  He  had  at  that  time  plunged  deep  into  the 
socialistic  poetry  of  that  period,  in  which  he  saw  a  promising 
symptom  of  a  new  mental  and  moral  revival  of  the  human  race. 
Some  French  poems  of  that  kind  he  translated  with  extraordi- 
nary skill  into  sonorous  German  verse,  which  he  read  to  us  at 
our  social  meetings  to  our  great  delight.  He  was  also  a  gener- 
ous listener,  and  although  very  deaf,  professed  great  interest 
in  our  musical  performances,  giving  his  sometimes  startling 
judgment  in  a  thundering  voice.  We  all  loved  him  for  his  high 
enthusiasms,  his  ardent  sympathies,  the  frank  honesty  of  his 
nature  and  the  robust  ingenuousness  with  which  he  promul- 
gated his  occasionally  very  eccentric  opinions  of  men  and 
things.  At  times  his  oddities  afforded  us  much  amusement, 
which  he  good-naturedly  shared,  frequently  laughing  loudest 
with  childlike  astonishment  at  the  queer  exhibitions  he  had  made 
of  himself.  He  might  well  have  served  as  the  original  to  many 
caricatures  of  the  "  absent-minded  professor,"  who  is  a  favor- 
ite subject  of  funny  pictures  in  German  periodicals. 

Now  and  then  he  was  seen  on  the  street  smoking  a  long 
German  student's  pipe,  as  he  had  done  in  Bonn.  In  Paris  the 
passersby  would  stand  still  with  amazement  when  they  beheld 
sa  unaccustomed  an  apparition,  and  soon  he  was  known  in  the 
Latin  Quarter  as  "  Thomme  a  la  longue  pipe."  One  day  he 
came  into  my  room  with  a  hairbrush  under  his  arm,  and  when 
I  asked  him,  "  Strodtmann,  what  are  you  carrying  there?  "  he 
looked  at  the  thing  at  first  with  great  surprise,  and  then  laughed 
boisterously  and  said,  with  his  loud  voice,  "  Why,  this  is  my 
hairbrush.  I  thought  it  was  a  book  from  which  I  wished  to 
read  to  you."  Another  time  when  he  visited  me  I  noticed  that 
his  face  bore  the  expression  of  extraordinary  seriousness,  if  not 
trouble.  "  I  have  only  one  pair  of  boots,"  he  said;  "  one  of  the 
boots  is  still  pretty  good,  but  the  other,  you  see  " — and  here  he 

[346] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
pointed  to  his  right  foot — "  the  other  is  bursting  in  the  seams. 
Have  you  not  a  boot  that  you  can  lend  me?"  Indeed,  I  possessed 
two  pairs,  and  it  so  happened  that  of  one  pair  one  boot  was  a 
little  damaged  and  the  other  in  a  perfectly  serviceable  condition. 
This  sound  boot  I  gladly  put  at  Strodtmann's  disposal.  When 
we  undertook  to  make  the  exchange  we  noticed  at  once  that  the 
two  good  boots,  his  and  mine,  belonged  to  two  different  fash- 
ions. His  was  pointed  at  the  toe  and  mine  was  broad-cut,  and 
both  were  for  the  left  foot.  These  unfortunate  circumstances 
did  not  disturb  Strodtmann  in  the  least,  and  although  he  may 
have  suffered  at  times  considerable  inconvenience,  he  walked 
about  in  these  two  left  boots,  one  of  which  was  pointed  and  the 
other  broad,  until  his  own  footgear  had  had  the  necessary 
repairs. 

I  felt  the  necessity  of  perfecting  myself  in  the  French 
language  in  order  to  speak  and  write  it  with  ease,  and  with  that 
delicacy  which  constitutes  one  of  its  characteristic  charms.  One 
of  my  friends  recommended  to  me  a  teacher  who  bore  the  high- 
sounding  name  of  Mme.  La  Princesse  de  Beaufort.  Accord- 
ing to  rumor,  she  belonged  to  an  old  noble  family,  but  was 
impoverished  to  such  a  degree  by  the  political  revolutions,  that 
she  had  to  earn  her  bread  as  a  teacher  of  language.  Whether 
this  was  all  true  in  reality  I  do  not  know,  but  when  I  sought 
her  out  I  found  her  in  a  modest  apartment  of  a  hotel  garni, 
an  elderly  lady  of  very  agreeable  features  and  a  quiet,  refined 
and  somewhat  courtly  manner  that  permitted  me  to  believe  she 
had  really  moved  in  distinguished  circles.  She  accepted  me  as 
a  pupil  and  declared  herself  willing  to  give  me  two  lessons  a 
week,  each  of  which  should  cost  one  franc.  We  began  the  next 
day.  My  teacher  allowed  me  the  choice  of  the  method  of  in- 
struction, and  I  proposed  to  her,  instead  of  following  the  usual 
custom  of  memorizing  rules  of  grammar,  that  I  would  write 

[347] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
for  her  little  letters  or  essays  on  subjects  that  interested  me. 
She  was  then  to  correct  my  mistakes  and  to  instruct  me  in  the 
idiomatic  forms  of  speech.  In  following  this  method  we  were 
to  have  a  grammar  at  hand  for  the  purpose  of  pointing  out  the 
rules  which  I  had  violated.  This  pleased  her,  and  as  I  was 
already  able  to  make  myself  somewhat  understood  in  French, 
we  set  to  work  without  delay. 

This  method  proved  very  successful.  My  letters  or  short 
essays  treated  of  real  happenings  that  had  occurred  to  me,  or 
of  what  I  had  seen  in  museums,  or  of  books,  or  of  the 
political  events  of  the  day.  Now,  as  I  did  not  merely  link 
together  grammatically  constructed  sentences  as  the  pupils 
of  so  many  educational  institutions  usually  do  when  writing 
their  Latin  themes,  but  as  I  set  forth  my  experiences  and  my 
views  with  great  freedom  and  thereby  tried  to  give  my  exercises 
some  intrinsic  interest,  my  teacher  did  not  confine  herself  to  the 
mere  correction  of  my  grammatical  mistakes,  but  she  entered 
into  animated  conversations  with  me,  in  which  she  encouraged 
me  further  to  enlarge  upon  the  subjects  narrated  or  discussed 
in  my  papers.  These  conversations,  in  which  she  showed,  aside 
from  a  thorough  knowledge  of  French,  much  independent 
thought  and  comprehension,  became  to  both  of  us  so  agreeable 
that  not  seldom  the  passing  of  the  hour  escaped  our  attention, 
and  when  I  rose  to  take  leave  she  insisted  that  I  stay  in  order  to 
pursue  the  discussion  a  little  farther.  Aside  from  these  lessons 
I  read  much  and  never  permitted  myself  to  skip  over  words  or 
forms  of  speech  which  I  did  not  understand.  My  progress  was 
encouraging,  and  after  a  few  weeks  it  happened  sometimes 
that  my  teacher  returned  my  paper  to  me  with  the  assurance 
that  she  found  nothing  in  it  to  correct. 

This  way  of  learning  a  foreign  language  proved  no  less 
effective  than  agreeable.  One  may  begin  the  attempts  of  free 

[348] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
expression,  and  thus  an  independent  use  of  the  language,  with 
a  comparatively  small  vocabulary.  Conscientious  reading  and 
well-conducted  conversations  will  then  quickly  enlarge  the  vo- 
cabulary and  develop  the  facility  of  expression.  But  I  cannot 
lay  too  much  stress  upon  the  fact  that  the  free  and  exact  ren- 
dering of  one's  own  thoughts  in  writing  is  the  most  efficient  ex- 
ercise in  acquiring  a  language.  In  mere  conversation  we  are  apt 
to  skip  over  difficulties  by  permitting  ourselves  vaguenesses  and 
inaccuracies  of  expression  which  would  sternly  demand  correc- 
tion— and  correction,  too,  easily  kept  in  mind — when  the  written 
word  looked  us  in  the  face.  To  quicken  the  efficacy  of  this  exer- 
cise requires,  of  course,  a  teacher  able  not  only  to  pound  gram- 
matical rules  into  the  head  of  the  pupil,  but  also  to  stir  up, 
through  study  of  the  language,  a  mentally  active  interest  in  the 
subjects  spoke  or  written  about.  Mme.  La  Princesse  de  Beau- 
fort filled  these  requirements  to  a  high  degree,  and  the  hours 
which  I  passed  with  her  have  always  remained  with  me  an 
especially  agreeable  memory. 

Another  similarly  effective  method  of  acquiring  foreign 
languages  without  a  teacher  I  will  explain  later  in  connection 
with  my  study  of  English.  Thanks  to  my  teacher,  I  rapidly 
acquired  such  fluency  and  ease  in  the  French  language, 
that  I  could,  and  did,  write  short  letters  to  French  jour- 
nals, which  were  published  without  correction.  I  regret  to 
say  that  in  the  course  of  time  I  have  lost  some  of  that  facility 
in  consequence  of  a  want  of  practice.  For  this  I  reproach  my- 
self, because  one  may  without  difficulty,  also  without  constant 
opportunity  for  conversation,  retain  a  complete  possession  of  a 
language  once  learned  by  simply  reading  to  one's  self  every  day 
aloud  a  few  pages  of  some  good  author. 

I  continued  with  zeal  to  study  French  history,  especially 
that  of  the  time  of  the  great  revolution,  and  as  France  was  still 

[349] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
regarded  as  the  revolutionary  leader,  and  we  expected  the  most 
important  results  from  the  developments  there,  I  took  a  lively 
interest  in  French  politics  and  pursued  with  the  intensest  con- 
cern the  struggle  going  on  at  that  time  between  the  Republi- 
cans and  the  President,  Louis  Napoleon,  who  was  suspected  of 
usurpatory  designs.  But  I  had  to  confess  to  myself  that  many 
of  the  things  which,  as  a  critical  observer,  I  witnessed  around 
me  seriously  modified  my  conception  of  the  grandeur  of  the 
events  of  the  revolutionary  period,  and  shook  my  faith  in  the 
historic  mission  of  France  as  to  the  future  of  the  civilized  world. 
I  frequently  visited  the  gallery  of  the  National  Assembly  when 
debates  of  importance  were  announced.  I  had  studied  the  his- 
tory of  the  "  Constituent  Assembly  "  of  1789,  of  the  "  Legisla- 
tive Body  "  and  of  the  "  Convention  "  of  the  first  revolution 
with  great  diligence  and  thoroughness,  knew  by  heart  some  of 
the  most  celebrated  oratorical  performances  of  Mirabeau  and 
others,  was  well  acquainted  with  the  parliamentary  discussions 
of  that  period,  and  hoped  now  to  hear  and  see  something  simi- 
lar to  that  which  had  moved  me  so  powerfully  in  reading  and 
which  lived  in  my  imagination  as  a  heroic  drama.  My  disap- 
pointment in  visiting  the  National  Assembly  with  this  expecta- 
tion was  great.  Indeed,  high-sounding  speeches  and  scenes  of 
stormy  and  tumultuous  excitement  were  not  lacking;  but  with 
all  this,  as  it  seemed  to  me,  there  was  too  little  of  an  earnest  and 
thoughtful  exchange  of  opinions  between  eminent  men,  and 
too  much  of  theatrical  attitudinizing  and  of  declamatory 
phrasemongery.  It  happened  to  me — as  it  frequently  happens 
—that  the  disappointment  of  expectations  which  had  been 
pitched  too  high,  will,  in  the  conclusions  we  draw,  lead  us  to 
underestimate  the  character  and  value  of  existing  things  and 
conditions  as  we  see  them  before  us.  What  in  fact  I  did  witness 
was  the  French  way  of  doing  things.  That  way  did  not  corre- 

[350] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
spond  with  my  ideals;  but  it  was,  after  all,  the  French  way, 
which,  with  all  its  histrionic  superficialities,  had  in  the  past, 
especially  in  the  great  revolution,  proved  itself  very  real  and 
serious  and  had  produced  tremendous  results. 

However,  what  I  saw  of  political  action  on  the  public 
stage  had  a  sobering  effect  on  me,  and  this  effect  was  intensi- 
fied and  confirmed  by  my  observations  in  the  Latin  Quarter 
and  in  public  places  of  amusement  of  the  dissoluteness  of 
student  life — the  habitual  life  of  young  men  who  might  be 
considered  the  flower  of  French  youth.  I  shall  never  forget 
the  impression  made  upon  me  and  my  friends  by  a  masked  ball 
at  the  opera  which  some  of  us  young  Germans  visited  during 
the  carnival  season  of  1851.  Everybody  was  admitted  who 
could  pay  for  his  ticket  and  provide  himself  with  the  pre- 
scribed attire,  that  is  to  say,  the  ordinary  evening  dress  or  some 
fancy  costume.  The  ball  began  about  midnight.  The  multi- 
tude present  consisted  of  all  ranks  and  conditions,  among  whom 
I  recognized  a  good  many  students  living  in  the  Latin  Quarter, 
with  their  grizettes  or  "  petites  femmes,"  and  of  other  persons 
who  had  come,  not  all  to  take  part  in  the  dance,  but  to  witness 
this  characteristic  spectacle  of  Parisian  life.  The  anterooms 
were  teeming  with  women  in  dominos,  who  approached  men 
walking  about  in  a  very  confidential  way.  The  great  auditory 
of  the  opera  and  the  stage  were  arranged  as  a  ballroom.  Danc- 
ing began  in  comparatively  decent  manner,  but  degenerated 
soon  into  the  ordinary  cancan.  Police  agents  moved  through 
the  room  to  prevent  the  grossest  violations  of  decency.  At  first 
they  seemed  to  succeed  in  a  degree — at  least  the  dancers  seemed 
to  keep  themselves  in  check  in  their  immediate  presence.  But  as 
the  hours  advanced,  the  temperature  of  the  room  rose,  and  the 
blood  of  the  dancers  became  heated,  the  business  of  the  guar- 
dians of  order  grew  more  and  more  hopeless.    At  last  all 

[351] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
restraint  was  at  an  end  and  bestiality  would  have  its  own 
way.  Men  and  women,  some  of  whom  in  the  fury  of  the  dance 
had  torn  their  clothing  from  their  shoulders,  raved  like  crazed 
beings.  The  scene  beggared  description.  The  programme  an- 
nounced as  the  last  dance  a  galop,  called  the  "  Hell  Galop." 
The  orchestra  played  an  especially  furious  measure,  accompan- 
ied with  the  ringing  of  bells.  In  truth,  the  crowd  whirling  in  the 
wildest  reel  of  sensuality  looked  very  much  like  a  pandemonium 
rushing  straight  into  the  bottomless  pit.  While  this  galop  was 
going  on — it  was  about  four  o'clock  in  the  morning — the  rear 
of  the  big  room  filled  itself  with  soldiers,  who  formed  in  line. 
Suddenly  the  music  of  the  orchestra  was  drowned  by  a  rattling 
roll  of  drums,  and  the  infantry  line,  bayonets  fixed  but  arms 
trailed,  advanced  slowly,  step  by  step  crowding  the  dancers  and 
the  onlookers  out  of  the  hall. 

To  drink  the  cup  to  the  dregs,  we  went  to  one  of  the  res- 
taurants on  the  Boulevard  near  by  to  take  some  refreshments — 
"  petit  souper,"  as  it  was  called.  The  spectacle  we  beheld  there 
surpassed  all  we  had  seen  before.  The  most  unbridled  fancy 
could  not  imagine  a  picture  more  repulsive. 

I  had  often  tarried  in  the  gallery  of  the  Luxembourg  in 
contemplation  of  Couture's  great  canvas,  called  "  La  deca- 
dance  des  Romains,"  which  so  eloquently  portrays  the  moral 
decline  of  a  mighty  people  and  a  great  civilization;  but  what 
we  here  saw  before  us  lacked  even  the  reminiscence  of  past 
greatness,  which  in  Couture's  picture  is  so  impressive.  It  was 
moral  decay  even  to  putrescence  in  its  most  vulgar  form,  its 
most  repulsive  aspect,  its  most  shameless  display. 

My  friends  and  myself  consoled  ourselves  with  the  reflec- 
tion that  we  had  seen  the  worst,  an  exceptional  extreme,  and 
that  this  could  not  possibly  be  representative  of  the  whole 
French  people ;  and  to  this  thought  we  clung  all  the  more  read- 

[  352  ] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
ily  as  our  hopes  of  the  new  democratic  revival  in  Europe  hung 
upon  the  part  which  we  expected  the  French  Republic  to  play. 

But  I  had  to  confess  to  myself  that  on  the  whole  the 
atmosphere  of  Paris  was  not  congenial  to  me,  and  with  sincere 
pleasure  I  accepted  an  invitation  of  the  Kinkel  family,  urging 
me  to  visit  them  in  London  and  to  spend  at  least  a  week  or  two 
in  their  happy  home. 

Here  I  must  mention  an  occurrence  which  at  the  time 
caused  me  astonishment.  Strodtmann  had  made  me  acquainted 
with  a  marine  painter  by  the  name  of  Melbye,  a  Dane.  He 
was  much  older  than  we,  an  artist  of  considerable  skill,  who 
talked  about  his  art  as  well  as  various  other  things  in  an 
agreeable  manner.  He  was  greatly  interested  in  clairvoyance, 
and  told  us  he  knew  a  clairvoyante  whose  performances  were 
most  extraordinary.  He  requested  us  several  times  to  accom- 
pany him  to  a  "  seance  "  and  to  convince  ourselves  of  her 
wonderful  abilities.  At  last  an  evening  was  fixed  for  this  enter- 
tainment, but  it  so  happened  that  at  about  the  same  time  I 
received  an  invitation  from  Kinkel,  which  I  resolved  to  accept 
without  delay.  When  I  packed  my  valise  Strodtmann  was  with 
me  in  my  room  and  he  expressed  his  regret  that  I  could  not 
attend  the  seance  that  evening.  He  went  away  for  a  little  while, 
to  return  to  my  room  later  in  the  day  and  to  accompany  me  to 
the  railroad  station.  In  the  meantime  the  thought  struck  me 
that  I  might  furnish  a  means  for  testing  the  powers  of  the 
clairvoyante.  I  cut  off  some  of  my  hair,  wrapped  it  in  a  piece 
of  paper  and  put  this  into  a  letter-envelope,  which  I  closed  with 
sealing-wax.  Then  I  tore  a  little  strip  from  a  letter  I  had  re- 
ceived that  morning  from  the  Hungarian  General  Klapka,  the 
celebrated  defender  of  the  fortress  Komorn,  and  put  this  strip 
containing  the  date  of  the  letter  also  into  a  folded  paper  and 
enclosed  it  likewise  in  an  envelope  sealed  with  wax.  When 

[353] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
Strodtmann  had  returned  to  me  I  gave  him  the  two  envelopes, 
without  informing  him  of  their  contents,  and  instructed  him 
to  place  them  in  the  hands  of  the  clairvoyante,  with  the  request 
that  she  give  a  description  of  the  appearance,  the  character, 
the  past  career  and  the  temporary  sojourn  of  the  person  from 
whom  the  objects  concealed  in  the  envelopes  had  come.  Then 
I  left  for  London. 

A  few  days  later  I  received  a  letter  from  Strodtmann,  in 
which  he  narrated  the  results  of  the  seance,  as  follows:  The 
clairvoyante  took  one  of  my  envelopes  in  her  hand  and  said  this 
contained  the  hair  of  a  young  man  who  looked  thus  and  so.  She 
then  described  my  appearance  in  the  most  accurate  way,  and 
added  that  this  young  man  had  won  notoriety  by  his  connection 
with  a  bold  enterprise,  and  that  at  the  present  time  he  was  on 
the  other  side  of  a  deep  water,  in  a  large  city  and  in  the  circle 
of  a  happy  family.  Then  she  gave  a  description  of  my  charac- 
ter, my  inclinations  and  my  mental  faculties,  which,  as  I  saw 
them  in  black  and  white,  surprised  me  greatly.  Not  only  did 
I  recognize  myself  in  the  main  features  of  this  description, 
but  I  found  in  it  also  certain  statements  which  seemed  to  give 
me  new  disclosures  about  myself.  It  happens  sometimes  when 
we  look  into  our  own  souls  that  in  our  impulses,  in  our  feelings, 
in  our  ways  of  thinking,  we  find  something  contradictory, 
something  enigmatical,  which  the  most  conscientious  self-exam- 
ination does  not  always  suffice  to  make  clear.  And  now  there 
flashed  from  the  utterances  of  this  clairvoyante  gleams  of  light 
which  solved  for  me  many  of  those  contradictions  and  riddles. 
I  received,  so  to  speak,  a  revelation  about  my  own  inner  self,  a 
psychological  analysis  which  I  had  to  recognize  as  just  as  soon 
as  I  perceived  it. 

What  the  clairvoyante  said  about  the  other  envelope,  which 
contained  Klapka's  writing,  was  hardly  less  astonishing.  She 

[354] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
described  the  writer  of  the  letters  and  figures  contained  in  that 
envelope  as  a  handsome,  dark-bearded  man,  with  sparkling 
eyes,  who  had  once  governed  a  city  full  of  armed  men  and  be- 
sieged by  enemies.  The  description  of  his  person,  of  his  past, 
and  also  of  his  character  as  far  as  I  knew  it,  was  throughout 
correct;  but  when  the  clairvoyante  added  that  this  man  was  at 
the  time  not  in  Paris,  but  in  another  city,  where  he  had  gone  to 
meet  a  person  very  dear  to  him,  I  thought  we  had  caught  her 
in  a  mistake.  A  few  days  later  I  returned  to  Paris,  and  had 
hardly  arrived  there  when  I  met  General  Klapka  on  the  street. 
I  asked  him  at  once  whether,  since  he  had  written  his  last  letter 
to  me,  he  had  been  constantly  in  Paris,  and  I  was  not  a  little 
amazed  when  he  told  me  that  he  had  a  few  days  ago  made  an 
excursion  to  Brussels,  where  he  had  stopped  not  quite  a  week, 
and  the  "  dear  person  "  whom  he  was  to  have  seen  there,  I 
learned  from  an  intimate  friend  of  Klapka,  was  a  lady  whom 
it  was  said  he  would  marry.  The  clairvoyante  was  therefore 
right  in  every  point. 

This  occurrence  mystified  me  very  much.  The  more  I  con- 
sidered the  question,  whether  the  clairvoyante  could  possibly 
have  received  knowledge  of  the  contents  of  my  envelopes,  or 
whether  she  could  have  had  any  cue  for  guessing  at  them,  the 
more  certain  I  became  that  this  could  not  be.  Strodtmann  him- 
self did  not  know  what  I  had  put  into  the  envelopes.  Of 
Klapka's  letter  to  me  he  had  not  the  slightest  information.  He 
also  assured  me  that  he  had  put  the  envelopes  into  the  hands  of 
the  clairvoyante,  one  after  the  other,  in  exactly  the  same  condi- 
tion in  which  he  had  received  them,  without  for  a  moment  con- 
fiding them  to  anybody  else  and  without  telling  to  anyone 
from  whom  they  came;  and  I  could  absolutely  depend  upon 
the  word  of  my  thoroughly  honest  friend.  But  even  if — which 
was  quite  unthinkable  to  me — there  had  been  some  collusion 

[355] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
between  him  and  the  clairvoyante,  or  if  he  had,  without  know- 
ing it,  betrayed  from  whom  the  envelopes  had  come,  it  would 
not  have  solved  the  riddle  how  the  clairvoyante  could  have  de- 
scribed my  character,  my  inclinations,  my  impulses,  my  men- 
tal qualities,  much  more  clearly  and  truthfully  and  sagaciously 
than  Strodtmann  or  Melbye  ever  could  have  done.  In  fact, 
Melbye  knew  me  only  very  superficially.  In  our  few  conversa- 
tions he  had  always  done  the  most  talking;  and  a  deep  insight 
into  the  human  soul  did  not  at  all  belong  to  Strodtmann's 
otherwise  excellent  abilities.  In  short,  I  could  not  in  the  whole 
incident  find  the  slightest  reason  for  the  suspicion  that  here  we 
had  to  do  with  a  merely  clever  juggler.  The  question  arose: 
Was  not  here  a  force  at  work  which  lay  outside  of  the  ordinary 
activity  of  the  senses  and  which  we  could  indeed  observe  in  the 
utterance  of  its  effects,  and  which  we  perhaps  could  also  set  in 
motion,  but  which  we  could  not  define  as  to  its  true  essence  or 
its  constituent  elements  ?  In  later  years  I  have  had  similar  expe- 
riences, which  I  intend  to  mention  in  their  proper  places. 

I  shall  now  return  to  my  visit  in  London.  Kinkel  had 
rented  in  the  suburb  of  St.  John's  Wood  a  little  house,  where  I 
was  most  heartily  welcomed  as  a  guest.  He  had  already  found 
a  profitable  field  of  work  as  a  teacher,  and  Frau  Kinkel  gave 
music  lessons.  I  found  the  whole  family  in  a  very  cheerful 
state  of  mind,  and  we  spent  some  happy  days  together.  In  fact 
I  felt  myself  so  much  at  home  that  Kinkel  could  easily  per- 
suade me  to  give  up  Paris  and  to  come  over  to  London,  where 
I,  as  it  seemed  to  me,  would  be  able  to  make  a  comfortable  liv- 
ing as  a  teacher  without  great  difficulty.  I  then  returned  to 
Paris,  as  I  thought  only  for  a  few  weeks  but  my  departure 
from  the  French  capital  was  to  be  delayed  by  an  unexpected 
and  very  disagreeable  incident. 

One  afternoon  I  accompanied  on  a  walk  the  wife  of  my 

[356] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
friend  Reinhold  Solger,  a  fellow- German  refugee,  a  man  of 
great  knowledge  and  acquirements,  who  later  was  to  occupy  a 
respected  position  in  the  service  of  the  United  States.  We 
were  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Palais  Royal  when  an  un- 
known man  stopped  me  and  asked  to  have  a  word  with  me 
aside,  as  he  had  something  very  confidential  to  communicate  to 
me.  As  soon  as  we  were  out  of  the  hearing  of  Mrs.  Solger  he 
told  me  that  he  was  a  police  agent,  ordered  to  arrest  me  and 
to  take  me  at  once  to  the  "  Prefecture  de  Police."  I  excused 
myself  to  Mrs.  Solger  as  best  I  could  and  accompanied  the  un- 
welcome stranger. 

He  conducted  me  first  to  a  police  commissioner,  who  in- 
quired after  my  name,  my  age,  my  nativity,  and  so  on.  I  was 
astonished  that  the  police,  who  seemed  to  know  my  name,  did 
not  know  where  I  lived.  I  declared  to  the  commissioner  that  I 
had  absolutely  no  reason  for  concealing  anything,  and  ac- 
quainted him  with  the  number  of  the  house  in  which  I  lived, 
as  well  as  with  the  place  in  my  room  where  the  keys  to  all  my 
belongings  could  be  found;  but  I  wished  to  know  for  what 
reason  I  had  been  taken  into  custody.  The  commissioner 
mysteriously  lifted  his  eyebrows,  talked  of  higher  orders,  and 
thought  I  would  learn  of  this  soon  enough.  Another  police 
agent  then  conducted  me  to  the  "  Prefecture  de  Police." 
There  I  was  turned  over  to  a  jailer,  who  after  I  had  surren- 
dered the  money  I  had  with  me  and  my  pocket-knife  to  a 
subordinate  turnkey,  took  me  into  a  cell  and  locked  me  in.  To 
the  question  whether  I  would  not  soon  be  informed  of  the 
reason  of  my  arrest  I  did  not  receive  any  answer.  My  cell 
was  a  little  bare  room,  sparingly  lighted  by  a  narrow  window 
with  iron  bars  high  up  in  the  wall.  There  were  two  small,  not 
very  clean,  beds,  two  wooden  chairs  and  a  little  table. 

I  expected  every  moment  to  be  called  to  a  hearing,  for  I 

[357] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
thought  that  in  a  republic,  such  as  France  was  at  that  time, 
they  would  not  incarcerate  anybody  without  telling  him  the 
reason  therefor  at  once;  but  I  waited  in  vain.  Evening  came 
and  the  turnkey  informed  me  that  I  might  have  a  supper,  con- 
sisting of  various  dishes  which  he  enumerated,  if  I  were  able 
and  willing  to  pay  for  it ;  otherwise  I  would  have  to  be  content 
with  the  ordinary  prison  fare,  which  he  described  to  me  in  a 
manner  not  at  all  alluring.  I  ordered  a  modest  meal,  and  in 
eating  it  I  thought  with  melancholy  longing  of  my  good 
Gitoyens  in  the  Rue  Saint- Germain  l'Auxerois. 

Late  in  the  evening,  when  I  had  already  gone  to  bed, 
another  prisoner  was  brought  to  my  cell.  In  the  dim  light  of 
the  turnkey's  lantern  I  saw  in  the  newcomer  a  man  still  young, 
in  shabby  clothes,  with  a  smooth-shaven  face  and  dark,  restless 
eyes.  He  at  once  began  a  conversation  with  me  and  informed 
me  that  he  had  been  accused  of  theft,  and  upon  that  accusation 
had  been  arrested.  The  charge,  however,  was  entirely  un- 
founded, but  as  he  had  been  arrested  before  on  similar  sus- 
picions, the  authorities  would  not  accept  his  assurances  of 
innocence.  I  thus  had  a  common  thief  as  my  companion  and 
roommate.  He  seemed  to  see  in  me  a  fellow-laborer  in  the 
vineyard,  for  he  asked  me  in  a  rather  confidential  tone  what 
accident  I  had  been  caught  in.  My  short  and  entirely  truthful 
response  did  not  appear  to  satisfy  him;  he  may  have  even  re- 
garded it  as  unfriendly,  for  he  did  not  say  another  word,  but 
lay  down  upon  his  bed  and  was  st>on  in  a  profound  sleep. 

During  the  still  night  I  thought  over  my  situation.  Had 
I  really  done  anything  in  Paris  that  might  have  been  consid- 
ered punishable?  I  examined  all  the  corners  of  my  memory 
and  found  nothing.  Of  course  the  reason  for  my  arrest  could 
only  be  a  political  one,  but  however  my  opinions  and  senti- 
ments might  displease  the  government  of  President  Napoleon, 

[358] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
I  certainly  had  not  taken  part  in  any  political  movement  in 
France.  In  Paris  I  had  only  been  an  observer  and  a  student. 
I  did  not  doubt  that  while  I  was  in  prison  the  police  would 
search  the  papers  in  my  room,  but  that  could  not  disquiet  me, 
as  I  knew  that  nothing  could  be  found  there  except  some  histor- 
ical notes,  a  few  literary  sketches  and  some  letters  from  friends 
of  an  entirely  harmless  nature.  All  the  papers  which  might  in 
any  way  have  been  considered  questionable,  as  well  as  the  pistols 
which  I  had  carried  with  me  during  the  Kinkel  affair,  I  had 
been  cautious  enough  to  entrust  to  one  of  my  friends  for  safe- 
keeping. Nothing  remained  but  the  suspicion  that  I  had  been 
taken  into  custody  at  the  instance  of  the  Prussian  govern- 
ment. But  would  the  French  Republic  be  capable  of  surren- 
dering me  to  Prussia?  This  I  deemed  impossible;  and  thus  I 
looked  the  future  calmly  in  the  face.  But  I  was  stung  by 
a  feeling  of  the  degradation  inflicted  upon  me  by  shutting  me 
up  in  the  same  room  with  a  common  thief.  It  revolted  my  self- 
respect.  And  this  could  happen  in  a  republic ! 

My  indignation  rose  the  following  morning  when  I  still 
failed  to  receive  information  about  the  cause  of  my  arrest.  At 
an  early  hour  the  thief  was  taken  out  of  the  cell  and  I  re- 
mained alone.  I  asked  the  turnkey  for  paper,  pen  and  ink,  and 
in  my  best  French  I  wrote  a  letter  to  the  prefect,  in  which,  in 
the  name  of  the  laws  of  the  country,  I  demanded  that  I  be  in- 
formed why  I  had  been  deprived  of  my  liberty.  The  turnkey 
promised  to  transmit  the  letter,  but  the  day  passed  without  an 
answer,  and  so  another  day,  and  still  another.  Neither  did  I 
receive  a  word  from  my  friends,  and  I  hesitated  to  write  to 
any  of  them,  because  the  receipt  of  a  letter  from  me  might  have 
embarrassed  them.  In  those  few  days  I  learned  to  understand 
something  of  the  emotions  which  may  torment  the  soul  of  a 
prisoner — a  feeling  of  bitter  wrath  against  the  brutal  power 

[359] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
that  Held  me  captive;  the  consciousness  of  complete  impotency 
which  rose  in  me  like  a  mockery  of  myself;  the  feverish  imag- 
ination that  troubled  me  with  an  endless  variety  of  ugly  pic- 
tures; a  restless  impetus  that  compelled  me  to  run  up  and 
down  for  hours  in  my  cell  like  a  wild  animal  in  its  cage ;  then  a 
dreary  emptiness  in  mind  and  heart  which  finally  ended  in  dull 
brooding  without  any  definite  thought. 

On  the  morning  of  the  fourth  day  I  addressed  a  second 
letter  to  the  prefect  still  more  vehement  and  pathetic  than  the 
first,  and  shortly  afterwards  the  turnkey  told  me  that  I  would 
be  taken  to  the  bureau  of  the  chief.  In  a  few  minutes  I  found 
myself  in  a  comfortably  furnished  office-room  and  in  the  pres- 
ence of  a  stately  gentleman,  who  kindly  asked  me  to  sit  down. 
He  then  complimented  me  elaborately  upon  the  correctness  of 
the  French  of  my  letters,  which  he  called  quite  remarkable, 
considering  my  German  nationality;  and  he  expressed  in  the 
politest  phrases  his  regret  that  I  had  been  incommoded  by  my 
arrest.  There  was  really  no  charge  against  me.  It  was  only 
desired  by  the  government  that  I  select  a  place  of  residence 
for  myself  outside  of  the  boundaries  of  France,  and  to  this  end 
leave  Paris  and  the  country  as  soon  as  might  be  convenient  to 
me.  In  vain  I  tried  to  move  this  polite  gentleman  to  a  state- 
ment of  the  reasons  which  might  make  my  removal  from 
France  so  desirable.  With  constantly  increasing  politeness  he 
told  me  that  it  was  so  desired  in  higher  places.  At  last  I 
thought  to  appease  his  evident  trouble  about  my  lacerated  feel- 
ings by  the  remark  that  in  fact  the  desire  of  the  government 
did  not  incommode  me  at  all,  inasmuch  as  I  had  intended  to 
go  to  London,  and  that  my  arrest  had  only  delayed  me  some- 
what in  my  preparations  for  departure.  The  polite  gentleman 
was  enchanted  at  this  happy  coincidence  of  my  intentions  with 
the  desire  of  his  government,  and  he  told  me  finally  not  to  be 

[360] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
in  too  great  a  hurry  with  my  preparations  for  leaving.  He 
would  be  delighted  if  I  felt  myself  under  his  especial  protec- 
tion while  in  Paris,  where  I  might  still  remain  two,  three,  four, 
even  six  weeks,  if  that  would  amuse  me.  He  would  then  put 
at  my  disposal  a  passport  for  any  foreign  country;  but  after 
my  departure  he  hoped  that  I  would  not  embarrass  him  by 
returning  to  Paris  without  his  special  permission.  Then  he  bade 
me  farewell  with  a  friendliness  bordering  on  actual  affection, 
and  I  left  him  with  the  impression  that  I  had  made  the  ac- 
quaintance of  the  politest  and  most  agreeable  police  tyrant  in 
the  world. 

I  hurried  back  to  my  quarters  and  found  the  Petit  family 
in  great  tribulation  on  my  account.  Madame  and  the  two 
faded  daughters  told  me  in  a  shrill  trio  how  a  few  days  ago 
two  police  agents  had  searched  my  room  and  examined  my 
papers,  but  had  left  everything  behind  them  in  the  best  of 
order.  The  police  had  also  tried  to  inform  themselves  of  my 
conduct  by  putting  questions  to  the  Petit  family,  and  I  might 
be  assured  that  the  Petit  family  had  given  me  the  most  excel- 
lent character;  but  then  the  Petit  family  had  become  very 
much  disquieted  about  my  lot,  and  had  informed  my  friends 
who  had  called  upon  me  of  all  that  had  happened,  and  re- 
quested them  to  set  in  motion  every  possible  influence  that 
might  help  me.  Subsequently  I  learned,  indeed,  that  several  of 
my  friends  had  made  proper  efforts  in  my  behalf,  and  it  is 
quite  possible  that  this  had  hastened  my  discharge  from  im- 
prisonment. 

The  reason  of  my  arrest,  however,  soon  became  quite  clear 
to  me.  Louis  Napoleon  had  begun  the  preparations  for  his 
coup  d'etat  which  was  to  do  away  with  the  republican  form  of 
government  and  to  put  him  in  possession  of  monarchical  power. 
While  the  republicans  deceived  themselves  about  the  danger 

[361] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
that  was  looming  up,  and  tried  to  ridicule  the  pretender  as  an 
"  inane  ape "  of  his  great  uncle,  this  man  set  all  means  in 
motion  to  win  the  army  and  the  masses  of  the  people  for  him- 
self and  his  schemes.  The  Napoleonic  propaganda  was  organ- 
ized in  all  parts  of  the  country  in  the  most  varied  forms,  and 
this  agitation  fell  especially  with  the  peasant  population  on 
very  fertile  soil.  The  legend  of  the  Napoleonic  Empire,  with 
its  wars  and  victories,  and  its  tragic  end,  was  the  heroic  lay  of 
the  country  people,  in  the  glamor  of  which  every  peasant 
family  sunned  itself  and  felt  itself  great.  Each  could  tell  of 
some  ancestor  who  at  Rivoli,  or  at  the  Pyramids,  or  at  Ma- 
rengo, or  at  Austerlitz,  or  at  Jena,  or  at  Wagram,  or  at  Boro- 
dino, or  at  Waterloo,  had  fought  under  the  eyes  of  the  mighty 
chief,  and  in  this  heroic  epic  there  stood  the  colossal  figure  of 
the  Great  Emperor  enveloped  in  myth,  like  a  demigod,  un- 
equaled  in  his  achievements,  gigantic  even  in  his  fall.  Every 
cabin  was  adorned  with  his  picture,  which  signified  the  great 
past  history  of  power  and  glory  embodied  in  this  one  superior 
being.  And  now  a  nephew  of  the  Great  Emperor  presented 
himself  to  the  people,  bearing  the  name  of  the  demigod  and 
promising  in  this  name  to  restore  the  magic  splendor  of  that 
period.  Numberless  agents  swarmed  through  the  country,  and 
pamphlets  and  hand-bills  passed  from  house  to  house  and  from 
hand  to  hand,  to  make  known  the  message  of  the  nephew  and 
successor  of  the  great  Napoleon,  who  stood  ready  to  restore  all 
the  old  magnificent  grandeur.  Even  the  barrel-organ  was 
pressed  into  the  service  of  that  agitation  to  accompany  songs 
about  the  Emperor  and  his  nephew  in  the  taverns  and  the  mar- 
ket-places of  the  country.  The  more  intelligent  populations  of 
the  cities  did  indeed  not  reverence  the  Napoleonic  legend  with 
the  same  naive  devotion;  but  that  legend  had,  even  before  the 
nephew  began  his  career  as  a  pretender,  been  nourished  in  a 

[362] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
hardly  less  effective  manner.  Beranger's  songs  and  Thiers' 
"  History  of  the  Consulate  and  the  Empire  "  had  stimulated 
the  Napoleonic  cult,  and  even  the  government  of  Louis  Philippe 
had  paid  its  homage  to  it,  by  transporting  Napoleon's  remains 
with  great  pomp  from  St.  Helena  to  the  Church  of  the  Inval- 
ides.  The  field  so  prepared  was  incessantly  tilled  by  Louis  Napo- 
leon, while  he  stood  as  president  at  the  head  of  the  executive 
power.  As  the  barrel-organ  did  service  in  the  country  dis- 
tricts, the  theater  was  made  to  serve  in  the  cities.  I  remember 
a  spectacular  drama,  which  was  produced  on  one  of  the  Fau- 
bourg stages  with  great  pomp  and  startling  realism.  It  was 
called  "  La  Barriere  de  Clichy,"  and  represented  the  campaign 
of  1814,  the  exile  of  Napoleon  on  the  Isle  of  Elba,  and  his  re- 
turn to  France  in  1815.  Napoleon  appeared  on  the  boards  in 
an  excellent  mask,  on  foot  and  on  horseback,  and  all  the  en- 
gagements of  that  campaign  in  which  he  was  successful  passed 
before  the  eyes  of  the  multitude ;  the  French  infantry,  cavalry, 
and  artillery  in  the  historic  uniforms  of  the  Empire;  the  ene- 
mies, Prussians  and  Russians,  barbarous-looking  fellows,  un- 
couth and  rude,  and  constantly  running  away  from  French 
heroism.  Bliicher  appeared  in  person  as  a  boisterous  barbarian, 
indulging  in  the  most  horrible  blackguardism,  constantly  smok- 
ing a  short  pipe,  blowing  forth  tremendous  clouds  of  smoke, 
and  incessantly  spitting  around  him.  The  enemies  were  regu- 
larly defeated,  so  that  it  was  difficult  for  the  impartial  beholder 
to  understand  why  Napoleon,  after  all  these  splendid  victories, 
succumbed,  and  was  forced  to  go  into  exile.  At  any  rate,  he 
soon  returned  amid  the  enthusiastic  acclamation  of  the  people. 
The  army  went  over  to  him  promptly,  and  this  piece  concluded 
with  his  triumphal  entry  into  Grenoble.  The  public  applauded 
with  enthusiasm,  and  the  cry  of  "  Vive  l'Empereur  "  was  heard, 
not  only  on  the  stage,  but  not  seldom  also  in  the  galleries,  in 

[363] 


.       THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
the  parterre,  and  in  the  boxes.    Thus  the  city  populations  were 
being  labored  upon. 

The  so-called  "  Prince-President  "  sought  to  win  the  army 
by  appearing  at  parades  and  maneuvers  in  a  general's  uni- 
form, by  showing  the  soldiers  all  possible  favors,  and  by 
drawing  to  himself  the  most  adventurous  spirits  among  the 
officers.  In  the  spring  of  1851  he  began  also  to  prepare  the 
prospective  battlefield  of  the  intended  "  coup  d'etat."  The 
bourgeois  of  Paris  were  made  to  apprehend  that  the  city  was 
full  of  the  most  dangerous  elements  from  which  every  moment 
an  attempt  at  a  complete  subversion  of  the  social  order  was 
to  be  feared;  that  "  society  "  was  in  imminent  danger  and  must 
be  "  saved."  The  "  Prince -President,"  so  the  word  went  forth, 
was  ready  to  undertake  that  work  of  salvation,  but  the  parlia- 
mentary power  sought  to  bind  his  hands.  However,  he  was 
doing  what  he  could,  and  would  first  undertake  to  deliver 
Paris  of  the  dangerous  characters  infesting  it.  One  of  the 
measures  taken  to  that  end  consisted  in  the  driving  away  from 
the  city  all  foreigners  who  might  be  suspected  of  an  inclination 
to  take  part  in  forcible  resistance  to  the  intended  "  coup 
d'etat,"  and  in  that  category  I  too  was  counted. 

A  police  agent,  who  described  the  threatening  dangers  in 
a  pamphlet  written  for  the  purpose  of  terrifying  the  timid 
bourgeois,  called  me  an  especially  daring  revolutionist,  who  in 
his  old  fatherland  had  already  committed  the  most  frightful 
outrages.  To  illustrate  this,  he  narrated  the  liberation  of  Kin- 
kel,  describing  him  with  the  most  fabulous  fabrications  as 
an  uncommonly  detestable  criminal.  To  these  circumstances 
I  owed  my  arrest  and  my  exile  from  France,  in  spite  of 
my  modest  and  retired  conduct  during  my  stay  there.  It  is 
indeed  not  at  all  improbable  that  if  I  had  been  in  Paris 
at  the  time  of  the  coup  d'etat  I  should  have  seen  in  the 
popular  resistance  to  the  Napoleonic  usurpation  the  decisive 

[364] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
struggle  for  and  against  liberty  in  Europe,  and  I  might  have 
taken  up  the  musket  and  fought  with  the  republicans  on  the 
barricades  on  the  2d  of  December.  So  it  may  be,  that,  if  it 
had  otherwise  been  my  intention  to  remain  in  Paris,  the  police 
saved  me  from  participating  in  a  hopeless  enterprise,  and  possi- 
bly from  a  miserable  end. 

The  last  weeks  of  my  sojourn  in  Paris  were  devoted  to 
visits  to  galleries,  museums,  and  interesting  architectures,  and 
to  merry  conviviality  with  my  friends.  To  one  of  them,  a 
young  Frenchman  from  Provence  who  had  studied  medi- 
cine in  Paris,  my  departure  was  especially  hard.  I  had 
made  his  acquaintance  as  one  of  the  lodgers  of  the  Petit  house, 
and  I  mention  him  because  he  furnished  a  remarkable  ex- 
ample of  the  effect  of  German  philosophy  upon  a  French 
brain,  which  I  would  not  have  deemed  possible  had  I  not 
personally  witnessed  it.  Soon  after  we  had  become  acquainted 
he  attached  himself  to  me  and  to  several  others  among  my 
German  friends,  and  as  he  was  a  modest,  agreeable,  and  able 
young  man  taking  life  seriously,  we  reciprocated  his  friendly 
feelings.  He  loved  Germans,  so  he  said,  because  they  were 
the  nation  of  thinkers.  He  had  made  the  acquaintance  of  some 
products  of  German  literature  in  translations,  and  tried  to 
possess  himself  of  the  language,  mainly  for  the  purpose  of 
studying  the  works  of  German  philosophers;  but  he  seemed 
to  find  it  very  difficult.  Thus  he  had  to  content  himself  with 
French  renderings  of  German  philosophical  works,  and  he 
frequently  came  to  us  for  the  explanation  of  phrases  which  he 
did  not  understand.  Sometimes  we  could  give  him  such  ex- 
planations, but  many  of  the  dark  expressions  we  did  not  un- 
derstand ourselves.  Suddenly  we  became  aware  that  our  young 
Provencal,  whose  conduct  of  life  had  always  been  very  regular 
and  irreproachable,  visited  the  German  beerhouses,  of  which 
there  were  a  great  many  in  Paris,  and  drank  heavily.  This  went 

[365] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
so  far  that  one  day  Mme.  Petit  and  her  daughters  asked  me 
to  visit  him  in  his  room,  as  he  had  come  home  the  night  before 
much  intoxicated,  and  was  now,  it  seemed,  seriously  ailing.  I 
complied  with  this  request  at  once  and  found  my  friend  in  that 
condition  which  at  the  German  university  is  designated  as  a 
deep  "  Katzen jammer."  The  young  man  confessed  to  me  that 
he  was  heartily  ashamed  of  his  behavior,  but  he  thought  if 
I  knew  the  cause  of  it  I  would  not  think  so  ill  of  him.  Then 
he  told  me,  with  great  gravity,  that  he  had  for  some  time 
tried  to  study  the  German  philosopher  Hegel,  and  he  had 
found  in  his  works  many  things  that  had  tormented  him  with 
doubts  as  to  the  soundness  of  his  own  mind.  Therefore  he  had 
tried  to  amuse  himself,  and  as  the  Germans,  of  whom  he  be- 
lieved that  Hegel's  philosophical  works  were  their  favorite 
reading,  liked  to  drink  beer,  he  had  also  made  an  effort  to 
facilitate  the  Hegel  studies  by  accustoming  himself  to  the  same 
beverage.  The  good  boy  talked  so  seriously  and  so  honestly 
that  I  refrained  from  laughing,  and  assured  him  with  equal 
seriousness  that  many  a  German,  too,  had  nearly  become  in- 
sane in  studying  Hegel,  and  that  the  drinking  of  beer  did  not 
help  them.  Now,  if  Hegel,  in  the  German  language,  produced 
such  effects  upon  German  heads,  what  effect  could  be  expected 
upon  my  friend  of  a  French  decoction  of  Hegel?  This  seemed 
to  quiet  my  good  Provencal  very  much.  I  advised  him  now 
to  give  up  Hegel,  as  well  as  the  excessive  drinking  of  beer,  and 
to  devote  himself  again  to  the  study  of  medicine,  like  the  well- 
behaved,  serious,  and  diligent  man  he  had  been  before.  He 
promised  this,  and  he  did  it  really;  and  on  the  day  of  my  fare- 
well from  Paris  we  took  leave  of  one  another  with  the  sincerest 
regret.  As  this  story  may  seem  somewhat  extravagant  and  im- 
probable, I  cannot  refrain  from  concluding  it  with  the  assur- 
ance that  it  is  literally  true. 

[  366  ] 


CHAPTER   XIII 

ABOUT  the  midle  of  June  I  arrived  in  London.  Kinkel  had 
already  selected  rooms  for  me  on  St.  John's  Wood  Terrace,  not 
far  from  his  house,  and  he  had  also  found  pupils  for  me  to 
whom  I  was  to  give  lessons  in  the  German  language  and  in 
music,  the  proceeds  of  which  would  be  more  than  sufficient 
to  cover  my  modest  wants.  The  well-known  paradox  that  you 
can  have  more  in  London  for  a  shilling  and  less  for  a  pound, 
than  anywhere  else,  that  is  to  say,  that  you  can  live  very  cheaply 
and  comparatively  well  in  modest  circumstances,  while  life  on 
a  grand  scale  is  very  expensive,  was  at  that  time  as  well  founded 
as  undoubtedly  it  still  is.  I  could  have  found  a  great  many 
more  pupils  if  I  had  been  able  to  speak  English.  But,  strange 
as  this  appeared  to  myself  in  later  life,  my  musical  ear  still 
rebelled  against  the  sound  of  the  English  language,  and  could 
not  conquer  its  repugnance.  The  peculiar  charm  of  its  cadence 
I  began  to  appreciate  only  as  I  learned  to  speak  it  with  fluency. 
In  the  social  circles  to  which  I  was  admitted,  and  of  which  I 
shall  say  something  later,  German  and  French  were  sufficient. 
In  teaching  German  to  others  the  Princess  De  Beaufort's 
method  in  teaching  me  French  proved  of  great  use  to  me. 

Some  of  my  pupils  took  a  very  lively  interest  in  old  Ger- 
man literature,  and  requested  me  to  read  with  them  the 
Nibelungenlied;  and,  as  not  seldom  happens,  in  my  role  of 
teacher  I  learned  more  of  the  subject  I  had  to  teach  than  I 
had  known  before,  and  than  I  would  have  learned  otherwise. 
I  taught  and  learned  with  real  enthusiasm,  for— I  may  per- 

[367] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
mit  myself  here  to  remark,  by  the  way — the  Nibelungenlied  is, 
in  my  opinion,  certainly  not  in  elegance  of  diction,  but  surely 
in  dramatic  architecture,  the  grandest  and  most  powerful  epic 
presented  by  any  medieval  or  modern  literature. 

In  my  social  intercourse,  the  Kinkel  family  occupied  nat- 
urally the  first  place.  Their  house  was  small,  and  modestly 
furnished.  But  in  this  house  dwelled  happiness.  Kinkel  had 
regained  the  whole  cheerful  elasticity  of  his  being.  His  hair 
and  beard  were,  to  be  sure,  touched  with  gray,  but  the  morbid 
pallor  which  his  imprisonment  had  imparted  to  his  face  had 
yielded  to  the  old  fresh  and  healthy  hue.  With  cheerful  cour- 
age he  had  undertaken  the  task  of  founding  for  his  family  in 
a  foreign  country  a  comfortable  existence,  and  his  efforts  were 
crowned  with  success.  To  the  private  lessons  he  gave  were 
added  lectures  and  other  engagements  at  educational  institu- 
tions. During  the  first  months  he  had  earned  enough  to  give  his 
wife  an  Erard  grand  piano,  and  Frau  Kinkel  won  in  a  large 
social  circle  an  excellent  reputation  as  a  teacher  of  music.  The 
four  children  promised  well  as  they  grew  up.  There  could  have 
been  nothing  more  pleasant  and  instructive  than  to  see  Frau 
Kinkel  occupied  with  the  education  of  her  two  boys  and  two 
girls.  They  not  only  began  to  play  on  the  piano  as  soon  as  they 
were  physically  able,  but  they  also  sang  with  perfect  purity 
of  tone  and  naive  expession,  quartets  composed  by  their  mother 
especially  for  them. 

The  joy  I  felt  when  I  observed  the  new  life  of  this  family 
I  cannot  well  describe.  I  learned  to  understand  and  appreciate 
one  great  truth:  there  is  no  purer  or  more  beautiful  happiness 
in  this  world  than  the  consciousness  of  having  contributed  some- 
thing toward  the  happiness  of  those  one  loves,  without  de- 
manding any  other  reward  than  this  consciousness. 

The  gratitude  of  Kinkel  and  his  wife  was  so  sincere  and 

[368] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
untiring  that  it  frequently  embarrassed  me.  They  constantly 
were  looking  for  something  that  they  could  do  to  please  me.  At 
the  time  when  I  was  thinking  of  settling  down  in  London  it 
was  hard  work  for  me  to  induce  them  to  accept  my  declination 
when  they  uttered  the  wish  that  I  should  live  in  their  house. 
Now  I  had  at  least  to  consent  to  their  pressing  proposition  that 
my  youngest  sister  should  come  over  from  Germany  to  be 
educated  in  their  home,  like  a  child  of  the  family.  This  turned 
out  happily,  as  my  sister  was  also  blessed  with  that  cheerful 
Rhenish  temperament  that  radiates  sunshine.  Then  Frau  Kin- 
kel  insisted  upon  giving  me  further  lessons  upon  the  piano,  and 
I  resumed  my  musical  studies  with  renewed  zest.  My  teacher 
taught  me  fully  to  appreciate  Beethoven,  Schubert,  and  Schu- 
mann, and  conducted  me  through  the  enchanted  gardens  of 
Chopin.  But  more  than  that,  she  familiarized  me  with  the  rules 
and  spirit  of  thorough-bass  and  thereby  opened  to  me  a  knowl- 
edge which  in  the  course  of  time  I  learned  to  value  as  an 
enrichment  of  musical  enjoyment.  Then  she  put  at  my  dis- 
posal her  Erard  grand  piano,  which  was  reverenced  in  the 
family  like  a  sacred  thing,  and  upon  which,  aside  from  herself, 
I  was  the  only  one  privileged  to  practice  and  to  improvise,  al- 
though there  was,  for  such  things,  another  instrument  of  less 
value  in  the  house. 

The  Kinkels,  naturally,  introduced  me  also  in  the  social 
circles  which  were  open  to  them.  Of  course  my  ignorance  of 
the  English  language  I  felt  as  a  great  drawback.  But  I 
had  the  good  fortune  of  establishing  relations  of  something 
like  friendship  with  several  English  families  in  which  German 
or  French  was  spoken.  There  I  learned  to  understand  how 
much  sincere  warmth  of  feeling  there  may  be  hidden  in  Eng- 
lish men  and  women  who  often  appear  cold,  stiff  and  formal.  I 
was  soon  made  to  feel  that  every  word  of  friendly  sympathy 

[369] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
addressed  to  me,  and  every  invitation  to  more  intimate  inter- 
course— words  which  with  other  people  pass  as  mere  superficial 
expressions  of  politeness — was  to  be  taken  as  perfectly  honest 
and  seriously  meant.  Theirs  was  true  hospitality,  without  pre- 
tension and  without  reserve,  in  which  one  breathed  the  atmos- 
phere of  assured  confidence.  I  have  also  not  infrequently  been 
surprised  in  such  friendly  intercourse  with  persons  who  at  first 
acquaintance  seemed  to  be  rather  dull,  by  the  reach  of  thought, 
the  treasures  of  knowledge,  the  variety  of  experiences,  and  the 
comprehensive  views  of  life  and  of  the  world,  which  came  forth 
in  familiar  talks. 

At  that  period,  the  German  language  was  much  in  fashion 
in  England,  probably  owing  to  the  circumstance  that  the 
popularity  of  Prince  Albert,  whose  merit  as  the  patron  of 
the  great  International  Exposition  of  1851  was  universally 
recognized,  had  reached  its  highest  point.  It  had  become  a 
widespread  custom  to  sing  German  songs  at  evening  parties 
and  the  German  "  Volkslieder,"  seemed  to  be  especial  favorites. 
I  could  not  but  be  amused  when  in  great  company  a  blushing 
miss  was  solemnly  conducted  to  the  piano  "  to  give  us  a  sweet 
German  folk  song,"  and  she  then,  in  slow  time  and  in  a  tone 
of  profound  melancholy,  which  might  have  indicated  a  case 
of  death  in  the  family,  sang  the  merry  German  tune,  "  Wenn  i' 
komm,  wenn  i'  komm,  wiederum  komm,"  etc.,  etc. 

In  later  years  I  have  often  regretted  that  at  that  time  I 
did  not  take  more  interest  in  the  political  life  of  England  and 
did  not  seek  acquaintances  in  political  circles.  But  even  without 
this,  I  received  a  deep  impression  of  the  country  and  the  people. 
How  different  was  the  restless  commotion  in  the  streets  of 
London  in  its  mighty  seriousness  and  its  colossal  motive  power, 
from  the  gay,  more  or  less  artistically  elegant,  but  more  than 
half  frivolous  activity  that  entertains  the  visitor  on  the  streets 

[370] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
of  Paris ;  and  how  different  from  the  half  military,  half  philis- 
tine  appearance  presented  by  Berlin,  which  at  that  time  had 
not  yet  become  a  world  city!  How  well  justified,  how  natural, 
appeared  to  me  the  national  pride  of  the  Briton,  when  in  West- 
minster Hall  I  beheld  the  statues  and  busts,  and  in  the  Abbey 
the  tombs  of  the  great  Englishmen,  which  stood  there  as  monu- 
ments of  mighty  thoughts  and  deeds!  How  firmly  founded 
appeared  to  me  the  free  institutions  of  the  people  to  whom  civil 
liberty  was  not  a  mere  phrase,  a  passing  whim,  or  a  toy,  but  a 
life-principle,  the  reality  of  which  the  citizen  needed  for  his 
daily  work,  and  that  lived  in  the  thoughts  and  aspirations  of 
every  Englishman  as  something  that  is  a  matter  of  course!  I 
saw  enough  of  the  country  and  of  the  people  to  feel  all  this, 
although  we  refugees  in  London  lived  separate  lives  as  on  an 
island  of  our  own  in  a  great  surrounding  sea  of  humanity. 

A  large  number  of  refugees  from  almost  all  parts  of  the 
European  continent  had  gathered  in  London  since  the  year 
1848,  but  the  intercourse  between  the  different  national  groups 
— Germans,  Frenchmen,  Italians,  Hungarians,  Poles,  Rus- 
sians— was  confined  more  or  less  to  the  prominent  personages. 
All,  however,  in  common  nourished  the  confident  hope  of  a 
revolutionary  upturning  on  the  continent  soon  to  come.  Among 
the  Germans  there  were  only  a  few  who  shared  this  hope  in 
a  less  degree.  Perhaps  the  ablest  and  most  important  person 
among  these  was  Lothar  Bucher,  a  quiet,  retiring  man  of  great 
capacity  and  acquirements,  who  occupied  himself  with  serious 
political  studies,  and  whom  I  was  to  meet  again  in  later  life 
as  Bismarck's  most  confidential  privy-councilor.  In  London, 
as  in  Switzerland,  the  refugees  zealously  discussed  the  ques- 
tion to  whom  should  belong  the  leadership  in  the  coming  revo- 
lution. Of  course  this  oversanguine  conception  of  things  gave 
rise  to  all  sorts  of  jealousies,  as  will  always  happen  among 

[371] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
people  similarly  situated,  and  the  refugees  therefore  divided 
into  parties  which  at  times  antagonized  one  another  with  con- 
siderable bitterness. 

When  Kinkel  arrived  in  London  he  occupied,  naturally,  a 
very  prominent  position  among  the  refugees  and  became,  so 
to  speak,  the  head  of  a  large  following.  But  he  also  had  his 
opponents  who  would  recognize  in  him  only  a  poet,  a  learned 
man  and  a  political  dreamer,  but  not  a  "  practical  revolution- 
ist "  fit  to  be  a  real  leader  in  a  great  struggle.  Many  of  these 
opponents  gathered,  strange  to  say,  around  Arnold  Huge,  a 
venerable  and  widely  known  philosopher  and  writer,  to  whom 
the  name  of  a  mere  learned  man  and  political  dreamer  might 
have  been  applied  even  more  justly.  Then  there  were  groups  of 
socialistic  workingmen  who  partly  gathered  around  Karl  Marx 
and  partly  around  August  Willich ;  and  finally,  many  neutrals, 
who  did  not  trouble  themselves  about  such  party  bickerings, 
but  went  individually  each  his  own  way. 

Kinkel  certainly  was  not  free  from  ambition,  nor  from 
illusory  hopes  of  a  speedy  change  in  the  Fatherland.  But  his 
first  and  most  natural  aim  was  to  make  a  living  for  his  family 
in  London.  This  claimed  his  activity  so  much  that  he  could 
not,  to  so  great  an  extent  as  he  might  have  wished,  take  part 
in  the  doings  of  the  refugees,  a  great  many  of  whom  had  no 
regular  occupation.  Neither  was  it  possible  for  him  to  keep 
open  house  for  his  political  friends  and  to  put  his  working 
hours  at  their  disposal,  and  to  make  the  home  of  his  family  the 
meeting  place  of  a  debating  club  for  the  constant  repetition  of 
things  that  had  been  told  many  times  before. 

Kinkel  was  therefore  reproached  with  giving  to  the  cause 
of  the  revolution  too  little,  and  to  his  family  interests  too  much 
of  his  time  and  care,  and  it  was  said  that  he  was  all  the  more  to 
blame,  as  he  owed  his  liberation  in  a  high  degree  to  the  helpf ul- 

[372] 


L!F0J^ 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
ness  of  his  democratic  friends.  However  unjust  such  a  re- 
proach, it  touched  Kinkel  deeply.  He  was  in  this  state  of  mind 
when  a  scheme  was  proposed  to  him,  characteristic  of  the  fever- 
ish imagination  of  the  political  exiles.  The  scheme  was  to  raise 
a  "  German  National  Loan,"  of  I  do  not  remember  how  many 
million  thalers,  to  be  redeemed  at  a  certain  time  after  the 
establishment  of  the  German  Republic.  The  money  thus  raised 
was  to  be  at  the  disposal  of  a  central  committee  to  be  expended 
in  Germany  for  revolutionary  ends.  To  expedite  the  levying 
of  that  national  loan  Kinkel  was  to  go  to  America  without 
delay,  and  by  means  of  public  agitation,  in  which  his  personal 
popularity  and  eminent  oratorical  gifts  were  expected  to  prove 
highly  effective,  induce  the  Germans  living  in  America,  and 
also,  if  possible,  native  Americans,  too,  to  make  liberal  contribu- 
tions. In  the  meantime  some  of  his  friends  were,  through 
personal  efforts,  to  win  the  assent  of  other  prominent  refugees 
to  this  plan,  and  thus,  if  possible,  to  unite  all  refugeedom  in 
one  organization.  But  Kinkel  was  to  leave  for  America  forth- 
with without  exposing  the  project  to  the  chance  of  further  con- 
sultation, so  that  the  refugees,  who  otherwise  might  have 
doubted  or  criticised  the  plan,  would  have  to  deal  with  it  as 
an  accomplished  fact. 

In  later  years  it  must  have  appeared  to  Kinkel  himself  as 
rather  strange,  if  not  comical,  that  he  could  ever  have  believed 
in  the  success  of  such  a  plan.  At  any  rate  this  project  was  one 
of  the  most  striking  illustrations  of  the  self-deception  of  the 
political  exiles.  But  there  can  hardly  be  any  doubt  that  the 
reproaches  directed  against  Kinkel,  as  to  his  giving  more  care 
to  the  well-being  of  his  family  than  to  the  revolutionary  cause, 
and  as  to  his  owing  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  one  of  his  friends  in 
further  efforts  for  the  revolutionary  movement,  was  to  him  one 
of  the  principal  motives  for  accepting  this  plan  without  hesita- 

[373] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
tion.  Only  a  few  days  after  the  matter  had  been  resolved  upon 
in  a  confidential  circle  Kinkel  broke  off  his  activity  as  a  teacher 
in  London — a  very  great  sacrifice  for  him  thus  to  expose  his 
family  to  new  hazards — and  departed  for  America.  I,  being 
still  quite  young  and  inexperienced,  was  sanguine  enough  to 
consider  the  success  of  such  an  undertaking  possible,  and  went 
into  it  with  zeal.  I  was  considered  capable  of  doing  some  dip- 
lomatic service  and  therefore  charged  with  the  task  of  trav- 
eling to  Switzerland  in  order  to  win  the  assent  of  the  promi- 
nent refugees  living  there,  and  so  to  prepare  the  foundation 
for  a  general  organization.  This  task  I  assumed  with  pleasure, 
and  on  the  way  paid  a  visit  to  Paris,  of  which  I  did  not,  how- 
ever, advise  the  polite  prefect  of  police,  and  soon  met  my  old 
friends  in  Zurich. 

For  these,  I  had  become,  because  of  the  liberation  of 
Kinkel,  an  entirely  new  person  since  my  departure  a  year  be- 
fore. They  now  attributed  to  me  a  great  deal  more  insight  and 
skill  than  I  possessed,  and  my  diplomatic  mission,  therefore, 
met  with  but  little  difficulty — that  is  to  say,  the  prominent  refu- 
gees, in  the  expectation  that  a  national  loan  would,  through 
Kinkel's  agitations  in  America,  turn  out  a  great  success,  readily 
declared  their  willingness  to  join  the  proposed  movement. 

The  most  important  man,  and  at  the  same  time  the  most 
stubborn  doubter,  I  found  there,  was  Loewe  von  Calbe.  As  the 
last  president  of  the  German  National  Parliament  he  had  gone 
in  the  spring  of  1849  with  the  remnant  of  that  assembly  from 
Frankfurt  to  Stuttgart  and  there  he  had,  arm  in  arm  with  the 
old  poet  Uhland,  led  the  procession  of  his  colleagues  to  a  new 
meeting  place,  when  it  was  dispersed  by  a  force  of  Wiirtemberg 
cavalry.  He  was  a  physician  by  profession,  and  had  acquired 
a  large  treasure  of  knowledge  in  various  directions  by  extensive 
studies.  He  made  the  impression  of  a  very  calm,  methodical 

[374] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
thinker,  who  also  possessed  the  courage  of  bold  action.  There 
was  something  of  well-conditioned  ease  in  his  deportment,  and 
when  the  sturdy,  somewhat  corpulent  man  sat  down,  looked  at 
the  listener  with  his  uncommonly  shrewd  eyes,  and  then  ex- 
posed his  own  opinion  in  well-formed,  clear  sentences,  pro- 
nounced in  slow  and  precise  cadence,  he  made  the  impression  of 
authority,  the  very  presence  of  which  was  apt  to  convince,  even 
before  the  argument  had  been  conducted  to  its  last  conclusions. 
Loewe  was  not  nearly  as  sanguine  as  most  of  us  with  regard  to 
the  possibility  of  a  speedy  change  of  things  in  Germany,  al- 
though even  he  was  not  entirely  untouched  by  the  current  illu- 
sions of  the  exiles'  life.  He  expressed  to  me  his  doubts  as  to 
the  chances  of  the  projected  national  loan;  but  as  he  did  not  al- 
together repel  the  plan,  and  as  I  was  anxious  to  win  him  for 
this  enterprise  by  further  conversations  about  it,  I  accompanied 
him  on  a  tramp  through  the  "  Berner  Oberland." 

Until  then  I  had  seen  the  snowy  heads  of  the  Alps  only 
from  afar.  Now  for  the  first  time  I  came  near  to  them  and, 
so  to  speak,  sat  down  at  their  feet.  We  walked  from  Bern  to 
Interlaken  and  then  by  way  of  Lauterbrunnen  and  the  Wen- 
gern  Alp  to  Grindelwald;  then  we  ascended  the  Faulhorn, 
and  finally  turned  to  the  lakes  by  way  of  the  Scheideck.  We 
stopped  at  the  most  beautiful  points  long  enough  to  see  the 
finest  part  of  this  range.  Of  all  the  wonderful  things  that  I 
saw,  the  deepest  impression  was  produced  upon  me  not  by  the 
vast  panoramas,  as  from  the  top  of  the  Faulhorn,  where  large 
groups  and  chains  of  the  Alps  are  embraced  in  one  view,  but  it 
was  the  single  mountain  peak  reaching  up  into  the  blue  sunny 
ether  from  a  bank  of  clouds  that  separated  it  from  the  nether 
world,  and  standing  there  as  something  distinct  and  individual. 
It  was  the  image  of  the  eternally  firm,  unchangeable,  cer- 
tain, looking  down  as  from  a  throne  in  serene  sunlight  upon 

[375] 


r^ 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
the  eternally  unstable  and  untrustworthy.  This  picture  became 
especially  impressive  when  behind  a  veil  of  cloud  the  dull  mys- 
terious thunder  of  the  plunging  avalanches  was  heard.  As  we 
were  favored  by  constantly  beautiful  weather  I  enjoyed  this 
spectacle  frequently  and  always  with  a  feeling  that  1  cannot 
designate  otherwise  than  devotional. 

I  was  so  deeply  touched  by  all  this  magnificence  that  I 
envied  every  peasant  who  could  spend  his  life  in  such  surround- 
ings. But  my  enthusiasm  was  sobered  by  an  enlightening  experi- 
ence. On  the  village  street  of  Grindelwald  I  noticed  one  day  a 
man  of  an  intelligent  face,  who  was  saluted  by  the  children 
playing  on  the  street,  with  especial  interest.  From  his  appear- 
ance I  concluded  that  he  must  be  the  schoolmaster  of  the  village, 
and  I  was  not  mistaken,  I  stopped  and  asked  him  for  some  in- 
formation about  local  conditions,  and  found  him  amiably  com- 
municative. He  told  me  that  in  the  Valley  of  Grindelwald,  a 
valley  covering  hardly  more  than  four  or  five  square  miles, 
there  were  people  who  had  never  passed  its  boundaries.  The 
whole  world  as  seen  by  them  was  therefore  enclosed  by  the 
Schreckhorn,  Monch,  Eiger,  Jungfrau  and  Faulhorn.  In 
my  enthusiasm  I  remarked  that  the  constant  sight  of  so  mag- 
nificent a  landscape  might  perhaps  satisfy  the  taste  of  any  man. 
The  schoolmaster  smiled  and  said  that  the  ordinary  peasant  was 
probably  least  conscious  of  this  grand  beauty.  He  saw,  in  the 
phenomena  of  nature  which  he  observed,  rather  that  which 
was  to  him  advantageous  or  disadvantageous,  encouraging 
or  troublesome,  or  even  threatening.  The  cloud  formations, 
which  caused  us  a  variety  of  sensations  and  emotions,  sig- 
nified to  him  only  good  or  bad  weather;  the  thunder  of 
the  avalanches  reminded  him  only  that  under  certain  cir- 
cumstances they  might  do  a  great  deal  of  damage;  he  saw 
in  the  fury  of  the  mountain  hurricane,  not  a  grand  spectacle, 

[376] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL   SCHURZ 
but  destructive  hail  storms  and  the  danger  of  inundations, 
and  so  on. 

I  asked  the  schoolmaster  whether  it  was  not  true  what 
we  frequently  heard  of  the  famous  Swiss'  homesickness,  that 
those  born  and  reared  in  these  mountains  could  not  be  satisfied 
or  happy  elsewhere,  and  if  forced  to  live  in  foreign  parts,  were 
consumed  by  a  morbid  longing  for  their  mountain  home.  The 
schoolmaster  smiled  again  and  thought  such  cases  of  homesick- 
ness did  occur  among  the  Swiss,  but  not  in  larger  number  nor 
with  greater  force  than  with  the  inhabitants  of  other  regions. 
Everywhere  he  supposed  there  might  be  people  that  adhere  to 
the  habits  and  conditions  of  life  of  their  homes  with  a  warm 
and  even  morbid  attachment.  But  he  knew  also  of  a  large  num- 
ber of  Swiss  who  in  foreign  countries,  even  on  the  flat  prairies 
of  America,  had  settled  down  and  felt  themselves  well  satisfied 
there. 

"Am  I  to  understand  from  you,"  I  asked,  "  that  as  a  rule 
the  Swiss  himself  does  not  appreciate  the  beauty  of  his 
country?" 

"No,  not  that,"  answered  the  schoolmaster;  "the  more 
educated  people  know  everywhere  how  to  appreciate  the  beau- 
tiful because  of  its  beauty;  but  the  laboring  man,  who  here  is 
always  engaged  in  a  struggle  with  nature,  must  be  told  that 
the  things  which  are  to  him  so  often  troublesome  and  dis- 
agreeable, are  also  grand  and  beautiful.  When  his  thought  has 
once  been  directed  to  that  idea,  he  will  more  and  more  famil- 
iarize himself  with  it,  and  the  Swiss,"  added  the  schoolmaster 
with  a  sly  smile,  "  also  the  uneducated  Swiss,  have  now  learned 
to  appreciate  the  beauty  of  their  country  very  highly." 

This  sounded  to  me  at  first  like  a  very  prosaic  philosophy, 
but  as  I  thought  about  it,  I  concluded  that  the  schoolmaster  was 
right.    The   perception   of  natural   beauty   is   not  primitive, 

[377] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
but  the  result  of  education,  of  culture.  Naive  people  sel- 
dom possess  it  or  at  least  do  not  express  it.  The  aspects  of 
nature,  mountain,  valley,  forest,  desert,  river,  sea,  sunshine, 
storm,  etc.,  etc.,  are  to  them  either  beneficent,  helpful,  or  dis- 
agreeable, troublesome,  terrible.  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  in 
Homer  with  all  the  richness  of  his  pictures  there  is  no  descrip- 
tion of  a  landscape  or  of  a  natural  phenomenon  from  the  point 
of  view  of  the  beautiful.  We  remark  the  same  in  the  primitive 
literature  of  other  countries.  In  the  same  spirit  spoke  the 
farmer  from  one  of  the  flat  prairies  of  the  west  of  America,  who 
once  traveled  on  a  steamboat  on  the  magnificent  Hudson,  and 
when  he  heard  an  enthusiastic  fellow-traveler  exclaim,  "  How 
beautiful  these  highlands  are,"  answered  dryly,  "  It  may  be  a 
pretty  good  country,  but  it's  a  little  too  broken." 

My  diplomatic  mission  in  Switzerland  was  quickly  accom- 
plished. I  soon  had  the  assent  of  almost  all  the  prominent  exiles 
to  the  plan  of  the  national  loan  and  I  thought  I  had  done  a  good 
service  to  the  cause  of  liberty.  Then  I  returned  to  London. 
Frau  Kinkel  asked  me  to  live  in  her  house  during  the  absence 
of  her  husband,  and  I  complied  with  her  wish,  but  life  in  that 
house  was  no  longer  as  cheerful  as  before  Kinkel's  departure. 
I  then  felt  how  great  the  sacrifice  was  that  Kinkel  had  made 
by  undertaking  the  mission  to  America.  Frau  Johanna  had 
seen  him  go  with  sadness  and  anxiety.  She  could  not  be  blamed 
for  thinking  that  the  burden  imposed  upon  her  by  the  political 
friends  was  all  too  heavy.  She  accepted  her  lot,  but  not  without 
serious  dejection.  Her  health  began  to  suffer,  and  conditions  of 
nervousness  appeared,  and  it  is  probable  that  then  the  begin- 
ning of  that  heart  disease  developed  which  a  few  years  later 
brought  her  to  an  early  grave.  The  news  which  we  received  from 
Kinkel,  was  indeed,  as  far  as  he  himself  was  concerned,  very 
satisfactory;  but  it  did  not  suffice  to  cheer  the  darkened  soul  of 

[378] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL   SCHURZ 
the  lonely  woman,  however  heroically  she  tried  to  seek  courage 
in  her  patriotic  impulses  and  hopes. 

Kinkel  had  much  to  tell  in  his  letters  of  the  cordiality  with 
which  the  Germans  in  America  had  welcomed  him.  Wherever 
he  appeared  his  countrymen  gathered  in  large  numbers  to  listen 
to  the  charm  of  his  eloquence.  As  he  traveled  from  city  to 
city  one  festive  welcome  followed  another.  The  enthusiasm  of 
the  mass  meetings  left  nothing  to  be  desired.  Although  Kinkel 
at  that  period  spoke  English  with  some  difficulty,  he  was  obliged 
to  make  little  speeches  in  that  tongue,  when  native  Americans 
took  part  in  the  honors  offered  to  him.  So  he  visited  all  the 
important  places  in  the  United  States,  north,  south,  east,  and 
west.  He  also  paid  his  respects  to  President  Fillmore  and  was 
received  with  great  kindness.  These  happenings  he  described 
with  bubbling  humor  in  his  letters,  which  breathed  a  keen 
enjoyment  of  his  experiences,  as  well  as  a  warm  interest  in 
the  new  country.  In  short,  his  journey  was  successful  in  all 
respects,  except  in  that  of  the  German  National  Loan.  Indeed, 
committees  were  organized  everywhere  for  the  collection  of 
money  and  for  the  distribution  of  loan  certificates;  but  the 
contributions  finally  amounted  only  to  a  few  thousand  dollars, 
a  small  sum  with  which  no  great  enterprise  could  be  set  on  foot. 
Kossuth,  who  visited  the  United  States  a  few  months  later  for 
a  similar  purpose,  and  who  enjoyed  a  greater  prestige,  and  was 
received  with  much  more  pomp,  had  the  same  experience.  And 
it  was  really  a  fortunate  circumstance  that  these  revolutionary 
loans  miscarried.  Even  with  much  larger  sums  hardly  anything 
could  have  been  done  but  to  organize  hopeless  conspiracies  and 
to  lead  numbers  of  patriotic  persons  into  embarrassment  and 
calamity  without  rendering  any  valuable  service  to  the  cause  of 
liberty. 

At  that  time,  however,  we  thought  otherwise.  Emissaries 

[379] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
were  sent  to  Germany  to  investigate  conditions  there  and  to 
build  up  the  revolutionary  organization — that  is  to  say,  to 
find  people  who  lived  in  the  same  illusions  as  the  exiles,  and 
to  put  these  in  correspondence  with  the  London  Committee 
preparatory  to  common  action.  Some  of  these  emissaries  ex- 
posed themselves  to  great  dangers  in  traveling  from  place  to 
place,  and  most  of  them  returned  with  the  report  that  there 
was  general  discontent  in  Germany  and  that  an  important  dis- 
turbance might  soon  be  looked  for.  That  there  was  much  dis- 
content in  Germany  was  undoubtedly  true.  But  of  those  who 
really  dreamed  of  another  general  uprising  there  were  only  a 
few.  The  revolutionary  fires  had  burned  out;  but  the  exile  was 
so  unwilling  to  accept  this  truth  as  to  be  inclined  to  look  upon 
everybody  that  expressed  it  as  a  suspicious  person.  He  there- 
fore worked  steadily  on. 

At  that  time  I  was  favored  by  what  I  considered  a  mark 
of  great  distinction.  One  day  I  received  a  letter  from  Maz- 
zini,  written  in  his  own  hand,  in  which  he  invited  me  to  visit 
him.  He  gave  me  the  address  of  one  of  his  confidential  friends 
who  would  guide  me  to  him.  His  own  address  he  kept  secret, 
for  the  reason,  as  was  generally  believed,  that  he  desired  to 
baffle  the  espionage  of  monarchical  governments.  That  the 
great  Italian  patriot  should  invite  me,  a  young  and  insig- 
nificant person,  and  so  take  me  into  his  confidence,  I  felt 
to  be  an  extraordinary  distinction.  Mazzini  was  looked  upon 
in  revolutionary  circles,  especially  by  us  young  people,  as 
the  dictatorial  head  of  numberless  secret  leagues,  as  a  sort 
of  mysterious  power  which  not  only  in  Italy,  but  in  all  Europe, 
was  felt  and  feared.  Wonderful  stories  were  told  of  his  secret 
journeys  in  countries  in  which  there  was  a  price  on  his  head; 
of  his  sudden,  almost  miraculous,  apearance  among  his  faith- 
ful followers  here  and  there;  of  his  equally  miraculous  disap- 

[380] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
pearance,  as  if  the  earth  had  swallowed  him;  and  of  the  un- 
equaled  skill  with  which  he  possessed  himself  of  the  secrets 
of  the  governments,  while  he  knew  how  to  conceal  his  own 
plans  and  acts.  By  us  young  men  he  was  regarded  as  the  em- 
bodied genius  of  revolutionary  action,  and  we  looked  up  to  his 
mysterious  greatness  with  a  sort  of  reverential  awe.  I  therefore 
felt,  when  I  was  called  into  his  presence,  as  if  I  were  to  enter 
the  workshop  of  the  master  magician. 

The  confidential  friend  designated  by  Mazzini  conducted 
me  to  the  dwelling  of  the  great  leader,  situated  in  an  unfash- 
ionable street.  In  the  vicinity  of  his  house  we  met  several 
black-eyed,  bearded  young  men,  manifestly  Italians,  who 
seemed  to  patrol  the  neighborhood.  I  found  Mazzini  in  an 
extremely  modest  little  apartment,  which  served  at  the  same 
time  as  drawing  room  and  office.  In  the  middle  of  the  room 
there  was  a  writing  table  covered  with  an  apparently  confused 
heap  of  papers.  Little  models  of  guns  and  mortars  served  for 
paper  weights;  a  few  chairs,  and,  if  I  remember  correctly,  a 
hair-cloth  sofa,  completed  the  furniture.  The  room  as  a  whole 
made  the  impression  of  extreme  economy. 

Mazzini  was  seated  at  the  writing  table  when  I  entered, 
and,  rising,  he  offered  me  his  hand.  He  was  a  slender  man  of 
medium  stature,  clad  in  a  black  suit.  His  coat  was  buttoned 
up  to  the  throat,  around  which  he  wore  a  black  silk  scarf,  with- 
out any  show  of  linen.  His  face  was  of  regular,  if  not  classic, 
cut,  the  lower  part  covered  with  a  short,  black  beard,  streaked 
with  gray.  The  dark  eyes  glowed  with  restless  fire;  his  dome- 
like forehead  topped  with  thin,  smooth,  dark  hair.  In  speak- 
ing, the  mouth  showed  a  full,  but  somewhat  dark  row  of  teeth. 
His  whole  appearance  was  that  of  a  serious  and  important 
man.  Soon  I  felt  myself  under  the  charm  of  a  personality  of 
rare  power  of  attraction. 

[  381  ] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
Our  conversation  was  carried  on  in  French,  which  Mazzini 
spoke  with  perfect  ease,  although  with  some  of  the  accent  pecu- 
liar to  the  Italians.  He  was  constantly  smoking  while  he  spoke. 
He  developed  even  in  this  confidential  conversation  between 
two  men  an  eloquence  such  as  in  my  long  life  I  have  hardly 
ever  heard  again — warm,  insinuating,  at  times  vehement,  en- 
thusiastic, lofty,  and  always  thoroughly  natural.  The  three 
greatest  conversationalists  with  whom  it  has  been  my  good  for- 
tune to  come  into  touch  were  Mazzini,  Dr.  Oliver  Wendell 
Holmes  and  Bismarck.  Of  these  Dr.  Holmes  was  the  most 
spirited  in  the  "  bel  esprit  "  sense ;  Bismarck  the  most  impos- 
ing and  at  the  same  time  the  most  entertaining  in  point  of  wit, 
sarcasm,  anecdote,  and  narratives  of  historical  interest,  brought 
out  with  rushing  vivacity  and  with  lightning-like  illumination 
of  conditions,  facts  and  men.  But  in  Mazzini's  words  there 
breathed  such  a  warmth  and  depth  of  conviction,  such  enthu- 
siasm of  faith  in  the  sacredness  of  the  principles  he  professed, 
and  of  the  aims  he  pursued,  that  it  was  difficult  to  resist  such  a 
power  of  fascination.  While  looking  at  him  and  hearing  him 
speak  I  could  well  understand  how  he  could  hold  and  constantly 
augment  the  host  of  his  faithful  adherents,  how  he  could  lead 
them  into  the  most  dangerous  enterprises  and  keep  them  under 
his  influence  even  after  the  severest  disappointments. 

Mazzini  had  undoubtedly  given  up,  if  not  formally, 
yet  in  fact,  his  membership  in  his  church.  But  there  was 
in  him,  and  there  spoke  out  of  him,  a  deep  religious  feel- 
ing, an  instinctive  reliance  upon  a  higher  Power  to  which  he 
could  turn  and  which  would  aid  him  in  the  liberation  and  uni- 
fication of  his  people.  That  was  his  form  of  the  fatalism 
so  often  united  with  great  ambitions.  He  had  a  trait  of  pro- 
phetic mysticism  which  sprung  from  the  depths  of  his  convic- 
tions and  emotions,  and  was  free  of  all  charlatanism,  and  all 

[382] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
affectation,  all  artificial  solemnity.  At  least  that  was  the  im- 
pression made  upon  me.  I  never  observed  in  him  any  sugges- 
tion of  cynicism  in  his  judgment  of  men  and  things — that 
cynicism  in  which  many  revolutionary  characters  pleased  them- 
selves. The  petty  and  usually  ridiculous  rivalries  among  the 
leaders  of  the  exiles  did  not  seem  to  touch  him;  and  discord  and 
quarreling  among  those  who  should  have  stood  and  worked  to- 
gether, instead  of  eliciting  sharp  and  offensive  criticism  on  his 
part,  only  called  from  him  expressions  of  sincere  and  painful 
regret.  The  revolution  he  aimed  at  was  not  merely  the  attain- 
ment of  certain  popular  rights,  not  a  mere  change  in  the  consti- 
tution of  the  state,  not  the  mere  liberation  of  his  countrymen 
from  foreign  rule,  not  the  mere  reunion  of  all  Italy  in  a  national 
bond;  it  rather  signified  to  him  the  elevation  of  the  liberated 
people  to  higher  moral  aims  of  life.  There  vibrated  a  truthful 
and  noble  tone  in  his  conception  of  human  relations,  in  the  mod- 
est self-denying  simplicity  of  his  character  and  his  life,  in  the 
unbounded  self-sacrifice  and  self-denial  which  he  imposed  upon 
himself  and  demanded  of  others.  Since  1839  he  had  passed  a 
large  part  of  his  life  as  an  exile  in  London,  and  in  the  course 
of  this  time  he  had  established  relations  of  intimate  friendship 
with  some  English  families.  It  was  undoubtedly  owing  to  the 
genuineness  of  his  sentiments,  the  noble  simplicity  of  his  nature, 
and  his  unselfish  devotion  to  his  cause,  not  less  than  to  his 
brilliant  personal  qualities,  that  in  some  of  those  families  a 
real  Mazzini-cult  had  developed  which  sometimes  showed  itself 
capable  of  great  sacrifices. 

The  historic  traditions  of  his  people,  as  well  as  the  circum- 
stance that  to  the  end  of  liberating  his  fatherland  he  had  to 
fight  against  foreign  rule,  made  him  a  professional  conspirator. 
As  a  young  man  he  had  belonged  to  the  "  Carbonari,"  and  then 
there  followed — instigated  and  conducted  by  him — one  conspir- 

[383] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
acy  upon  another,  resulting  in  insurrectionary  attempts  which 
always  failed.  But  these  failures  did  not  discourage  him;  they 
rather  stimulated  his  zeal  to  new  efforts.  In  the  course  of  our 
conversation  he  gave  me  to  understand  that  he  had  preparations 
going  on  for  a  new  enterprise  in  upper  Italy,  and  as  he  probably 
considered  me  a  person  of  influence  in  that  part  of  German 
refugeedom  which  would  control  the  disposition  of  our  pros- 
pective national  loan,  he  wished  to  know  whether  we  would 
be  inclined  to  support  his  undertaking  with  our  money.  At 
any  rate,  he  evidently  desired  to  create  among  us  a  dis- 
position favorable  to  such  cooperation.  He  no  doubt  took 
me  for  a  more  influential  person  than  I  was.  I  could  only 
promise  him  to  discuss  the  matter  with  Kinkel  and  his  asso- 
ciates, after  his  return  from  America.  But  I  did  not  con- 
ceal from  Mazzini  that  I  doubted  whether  the  responsible 
German  leaders  would  consider  themselves  justified  in  using 
moneys  which  had  been  collected  for  employment  in  their 
own  country  for  the  furtherance  of  revolutionary  uprisings 
in  Italy.  This  remark  gave  Mazzini  an  opportunity  for  some 
eloquent  sentiments  about  the  solidarity  of  peoples  in  their 
struggle  for  liberty  and  national  existence.  At  that  time  neither 
of  us  knew  yet  how  small  would  be  the  result  of  the  agitation 
for  a  German  national  loan. 

I  was  honored  with  another  meeting  that  has  remained  to 
me  hardly  less  memorable.  In  October,  1851,  Louis  Kossuth 
came  to  England.  After  the  breakdown  of  the  Hungarian 
revolution  he  had  fled  across  the  Turkish  frontier.  His  remain- 
ing on  Turkish  soil  was  considered  objectionable  by  the  Aus- 
trian government,  and  unsafe  by  his  friends.  The  Sultan,  in- 
deed, refused  his  extradition.  But  when  the  republic  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  in  general  sympathy  with  the  unfor- 
tunate Hungarian  patriots,  offered  them  an  American  ship-of- 

[384] 


the  Reminiscences  of  carl  schurz 
war  for  their  transportation  to  the  United  States  that  offer  was 
unhesitatingly  accepted.  But  Kossuth  did  not  intend  to  emi- 
grate to  America  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  there  his  per- 
manent residence.  He  was  far  from  considering  his  mission  as 
ended  and  the  defeat  of  his  cause  as  irretrievable.  He,  too,  with 
the  sanguine  temperament  of  the  exile,  dreamed  of  the  possi- 
bility of  inducing  the  liberal  part  of  the  old  and  also  of  the  new 
world  to  take  up  arms  against  the  oppressors  of  Hungary,  or 
at  least  to  aid  his  country  by  diplomatic  interference.  And, 
indeed,  could  this  have  been  accomplished  by  a  mere  appeal  to 
the  emotions  and  the  imagination,  Kossuth  would  have  been  the 
man  to  achieve  it.  Of  all  the  events  of  the  years  1848  and  1849, 
the  heroic  struggle  of  the  Hungarians  for  their  national  inde- 
pendence had  excited  the  liveliest  sympathy  in  other  countries. 
The  brave  generals,  who  for  a  time  went  from  victory  to  victory 
and  then  succumbed  to  the  overwhelming  power  of  the  Russian 
intervention,  appeared  like  the  champions  of  a  heroic  legend, 
and  among  and  above  them  stood  the  figure  of  Kossuth  like 
that  of  a  prophet  whose  burning  words  kindled  and  kept 
alive  the  fire  of  patriotism  in  the  hearts  of  his  people.  There 
was  everything  of  heroism  and  tragic  misfortune  to  make  this 
epic  grand  and  touching,  and  the  whole  romance  of  the  revolu- 
tionary time  found  in  Kossuth's  person  its  most  attractive  em- 
bodiment. The  sonorous  notes  of  his  eloquence  had,  during  the 
struggle,  been  heard  far  beyond  the  boundaries  of  Hungary 
in  the  outside  world.  Not  a  few  of  his  lofty  sentences,  his  poetic 
illustrations  and  his  thrilling  appeals  had  passed  from  mouth  to 
mouth  among  us  young  people  at  the  German  universities. 
And  his  picture,  with  thoughtful  forehead,  the  dreamy  eyes 
and  his  strong,  beard-framed  chin,  became  everywhere  an  ob- 
ject of  admiring  reverence. 

When  now,  delaying  his  journey  to  America,  he  arrived 

[  385  ] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
in  London  the  enthusiasm  of  the  English  people  seemed  to 
know  no  bounds.  His  entry  was  like  that  of  a  national  herd 
returning  from  a  victorious  campaign.  The  multitudes  crowd- 
ing the  streets  were  immense.  He  appeared  in  his  picturesque 
Hungarian  garb,  standing  upright  in  his  carriage,  with  his 
saber  at  his  side,  and  surrounded  by  an  equally  picturesque  reti- 
nue. But  when  he  began  to  speak,  and  his  voice,  with  its  reson- 
ant and  at  the  same  time  mellow  sound,  poured  forth  its  har- 
mony over  the  heads  of  the  throngs  in  classic  English,  deriving 
a  peculiar  charm  from  the  soft  tinge  of  foreign  accent,  then 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  listeners  mocked  all  description. 

Kossuth  had  been  offered  the  hospitality  of  the  house  of 
a  private  citizen  of  London  who  took  an  especial  interest  in 
the  Hungarian  cause;  and  there  during  his  sojourn  in  the  Brit- 
ish capital  he  received  his  admirers  and  friends.  A  kind  of 
court  surrounded  him;  his  companions,  always  in  their  Hun- 
garian national  dress,  maintained  in  a  ceremonious  way  his 
pretension  of  his  still  being  the  rightful  governor  of  Hungary. 
He  granted  audiences  like  a  prince,  and  when  he  entered  the 
room  he  was  announced  by  an  aide-de-camp  as  "  the  Gov- 
ernor." All  persons  rose  and  Kossuth  saluted  them  with  grave 
solemnity.  Among  the  exiles  of  other  nations  these  somewhat 
undemocratic  formalities  created  no  little  displeasure.  But  it 
was  Kossuth's  intention  to  produce  certain  effects  upon  public 
opinion,  not  in  his  own,  but  in  his  people's  behalf,  and  as  to  that 
end  it  may  have  seemed  to  him  necessary  to  impress  upon  the 
imagination  of  the  Englishmen  the  picture  of  Hungary  under 
her  own  Governor,  and  also  to  illustrate  to  them  the  firm  faith 
of  the  Hungarians  themselves  in  the  justice  of  their  cause,  it 
was  not  improper  that  he  used  such  picturesque  displays  as 
means  for  the  accomplishment  of  his  purpose. 

Our  organization  of  German  refugees  also  sent  a  deputa- 

[  386  ] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
tion  to  Kossuth  to  pay  their  respects,  and  of  that  deputation  I 
was  one.  We  were  ushered  into  the  reception-room  in  the  cus- 
tomary way  and  there  salutued  by  aides-de-camp  with  much 
gold  lace  on  their  coats — handsome  fellows,  with  fine  black 
mustaches  and  splendid  white  teeth.  At  last  Kossuth  appeared. 
It  was  the  first  time  that  I  came  near  to  him.  The  speaker  of  our 
deputation  introduced  us  each  by  name,  and  as  mine  was  called 
Kossuth  reached  out  his  hand  to  me  and  said  in  German:  "  I 
know  you.  You  have  done  a  noble  deed.  I  am  rejoiced  to  take 
your  hand."  I  was  so  embarrassed  that  I  could  not  say  any- 
thing in  response.  But  it  was,  after  all,  a  proud  moment.  A 
short  conversation  followed,  in  which  I  took  but  small  part.  A 
member  of  our  deputation  spoke  of  the  socialistic  tendencies  of 
the  new  revolutionary  agitation.  I  remember  distinctly  what 
Kossuth  answered.  It  was  to  this  effect:  "  I  know  nothing  of 
socialism.  I  have  never  occupied  myself  with  it.  My  aim  is  to 
secure  for  the  Hungarian  people  national  independence  and 
free  political  institutions.  When  that  is  done  my  task  will  have 
been  performed." 

On  public  occasions,  wherever  Kossuth  put  forth  his  whole 
eloquence  to  inflame  the  enthusiasm  of  Englishmen  for  the 
Hungarian  cause,  his  hearers  always  rewarded  him  with  frantic 
applause;  but  his  efforts  to  induce  the  British  government  to 
take  active  steps  against  Russia  and  Austria  in  behalf  of  Hun- 
gary could  not  escape  sober  criticism,  and  all  his  attempts  to 
get  the  ear  of  official  circles  and  to  come  into  confidential  touch 
with  the  Palmerston  ministry  came  to  nothing.  In  fact,  the 
same  experience  awaited  him  in  the  United  States:  great  en- 
thusiasm for  his  person  and  for  the  heroic  struggles  of  his  peo- 
ple, but  then  sober  consideration  of  the  traditional  policy  of  the 
United  States,  and  an  unwillingness  to  abandon  that  traditional 
policy  by  active  intervention  in  the  affairs  of  the  old  world. 

[387] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
Before  Kossuth  began  his  agitation  in  America,  Kinkel 
had  returned  from  there.  He  had  much  to  tell  of  the  new  world 
that  was  good  and  beautiful,  although  he  was  obliged  to  con- 
fess to  himself  that  the  practical  result  of  his  mission  was 
discouragingly  trifling.  With  robust  energy  he  resumed  his 
interrupted  activity  as  a  teacher,  and  with  him  the  old  sunshine 
returned  to  the  Kinkel  home. 


[388] 


CHAPTER   XIV 

IN  the  autumn  of  1851  the  refugees  in  London,  especially  the 
Germans,  found  a  common  meeting-place  in  the  drawing-room 
of  a  born  aristocrat,  the  Baroness  von  Bruning,  nee  Princess 
Lieven,  from  one  of  the  German  provinces  of  Russia.  She 
was  then  a  little  more  than  thirty  years  old;  not  exactly  beauti- 
ful, but  of  an  open,  agreeable,  winning  expression  of  face,  fine 
manners  and  a  stimulating  gift  of  conversation.  How,  with 
her  aristocratic  birth  and  social  position,  she  had  dropped  into 
the  democratic  current  I  do  not  know.  Probably  the  reports  of 
the  struggles  for  liberty  in  Western  Europe,  which  crossed  the 
Russian  frontier,  had  inflamed  her  imagination,  and  her  viva- 
cious nature  had  indulged  itself  in  incautious  utterances  against 
the  despotic  rule  of  the  Emperor  Nicholas.  In  short,  she  found 
life  in  Russia  intolerable,  or,  may  be,  she  was  in  danger  of 
arrest  had  she  not  left  her  native  country.  For  some  time  she 
lived  in  Germany  and  in  Switzerland,  and  there  became  ac- 
quainted with  various  liberal  leaders.  She  had  also  corresponded 
with  Frau  Kinkel  and  contributed  a  portion  of  the  money 
which  was  employed  in  Kinkel's  liberation.  But  on  the  Euro- 
pean continent  she  believed  herself  constantly  pursued  by  Rus- 
sian influences;  and  no  doubt  the  police,  at  least  in  Germany, 
made  itself  quite  disagreeable  to  her.  So  she  sought  at  last 
refuge  on  English  soil,  and  in  order  to  be  in  constant  contact 
with  persons  of  her  own  way  of  thinking  she  settled  down  in 
the  midst  of  the  Colony  of  German  refugees  in  the  suburb 
of  St.  John's  Wood.  She  was  most  cordially  received  by  the 

[389] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
Kinkel  family,  and  attempted  to  manage  the  social  part  of  their 
establishment.  This,  however,  soon  proved  impossible.  The  rich 
woman,  reared  in  affluent  circumstances,  could  hardly  under- 
stand that  a  family  obliged  to  work  for  its  daily  living  with  the 
most  strenuous  activity  had  to  husband  its  time  as  well  as  its 
means  with  the  strictest  economy,  and  could  allow  itself  the 
luxury  of  an  agreeable  social  intercourse  only  to  a  limited 
extent.  The  industry  and  devotion  to  duty  of  the  Kinkels  could 
hardly  accord  with  the  well-meaning  but  somewhat  extravagant 
intentions  of  Baroness  Briining.  She  hired  a  spacious  house 
on  St.  John's  Wood  Terrace,  opened  her  salon  with  great  hos- 
pitality to  her  friends,  and  a  numerous  circle  of  refugees  met 
there  almost  every  evening. 

The  Baroness  was  surrounded  by  her  husband  and  her 
children,  and  the  sociability  of  her  house  was  that  of  agreeable 
family  life.  Baron  Briining  indeed  did  not  seem  to  feel  him- 
self quite  at  home  with  the  friends  that  visited  his  drawing- 
room.  He  was  a  distinguished-looking,  quiet  gentleman,  of  fine 
breeding  and  manners,  who,  if  his  ideas  did  not  harmonize  with 
the  political  principles  and  teachings  that  found  voice  around 
him,  did  not  make  the  guests  of  his  house  feel  his  dissent.  When 
the  political  opinions  uttered  in  his  presence  happened  to  be  too 
extreme  a  somewhat  ironical  smile  would  play  about  his  lips; 
and  he  met  the  constantly  recurring  prophecy,  that  soon  all 
dynasties  on  the  European  Continent  would  be  upset  and  a 
family  of  republics  take  their  place,  with  the  quiet  question: 
"  Do  you  really  think  that  this  will  soon  happen?  "  But  he  was 
always  pleasant  and  obliging,  and  never  failed  to  fill  his  place 
in  the  social  circle  and  welcomed  everybody  who  was  welcome  to 
his  wife.  The  more  thoughtful  among  the  guests,  and  those  who 
had  mental  interests  outside  of  revolutionary  politics,  recognized 
it  as  a  matter  of  good  breeding  to  reciprocate  the  amiability 

[390] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
of  the  Baron  with  every  possible  attention;  and  they  found 
in  him  a  well-meaning  and  well-informed  man,  who  had  read 
much  and  had  formed  very  clear  opinions  about  many  subjects. 
Thus  relations  of  a  certain  confidentiality  developed  themselves 
between  him  and  some  of  his  guests,  of  whom  I  was  one;  and  if 
he  ever  talked  about  his  domestic  conditions  the  impression  was 
conveyed  that  he  looked  upon  the  democratic  enthusiasms  of 
his  wife,  with  all  its  consequences,  as  a  matter  of  fate  which 
must  be  submitted  to.  The  cause  of  his  compliance  with  all  her 
eccentricities  was  by  some  of  us  supposed  to  be  that  the  fortune 
of  the  family  had  come  from  her  side,  but  it  is  just  as  likely  that 
it  was  the  usual  helplessness  of  the  weaker  will  against  the 
stronger,  and  that  the  Baron  permitted  himself  to  be  whirled 
from  place  to  place  and  from  one  social  circle  to  another, 
although  undesirable  to  him,  because  the  power  of  resistance 
was  not  one  of  his  otherwise  excellent  qualities.  However,  the 
two  spoke  of  one  another  always  with  the  greatest  and  most 
unaffected  esteem  and  warmth,  and  the  Baron  made  the  educa- 
tion of  his  children  the  special  object  of  his  care  and  endeavor. 
Baroness  Briining  was  almost  entirely  absorbed  with  the 
society  of  the  exiles.  She  was  not  a  woman  of  great  mental 
gifts.  Her  knowledge  was  somewhat  superficial  and  her  think- 
ing not  profound.  She  possessed  the  education  of  "  good  so- 
ciety," and  with  it  true  goodness  of  heart  in  the  most  amiable 
form.  As  is  usually  the  case  with  women  whose  views  and  opin- 
ions spring  more  from  the  emotions  of  the  heart  than  from  a 
clear  and  sober  observation  of  things  and  proper  conclusions 
drawn  by  the  understanding,  she  devoted  her  enthusiasms  and 
sympathies  more  to  persons  than  to  principles,  endeavors  and 
objects.  Such  women  are  frequently  accused  of  an  inordinate 
desire  to  please,  and  it  may  indeed  have  flattered  the  Baroness 
to  be  the  center  of  a  social  circle  in  which  there  were  many  men 

[391  ] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
and  women  of  superior  mind  and  character,  but  her  enthusiastic 
nature  was  so  genuine,  her  desire  to  offer  a  home  to  the  exiles 
so  indefatigable,  her  sympathy  with  every  case  of  suffering  so 
self-sacrificing,  and  her  character,  with  all  the  freedom  of  per- 
sonal intercourse,  so  perfectly  spotless  and  unassailable,  that 
she  would  easily  have  been  forgiven  much  greater  vanity.  For 
many  of  the  refugees  she  was  really  a  good  fairy.  One  she 
enabled  at  her  own  expense  to  send  for  his  long-betrothed  bride 
from  Germany;  for  another  she  procured  a  decent  dwelling, 
and  made  a  secret  agreement  with  the  landlord  according  to 
which  she  paid  part  of  the  rent ;  she  ran  about  to  procure  occu- 
pation as  a  teacher  for  a  third;  for  a  fourth,  an  artist,  she  got 
orders;  to  a  fifth  she  was  the  sister  of  mercy  in  illness.  With 
watchful  providence  she  sought  to  learn  from  one  what  the 
other  might  want  and  what  she  might  do  to  help,  for  she  was 
always  careful  to  hide  the  helping  hand.  Her  self-sacrificing 
lavishness  went  so  far  that  she  imposed  upon  herself  all  sorts 
of  privations  to  help  others  with  her  savings.  Thus  she  had  only 
one  gown  in  which  to  appear  in  the  salon.  This  was  of  purple 
satin  and  had  in  bygone  times  doubtless  appeared  very  elegant ; 
but  as  she  constantly  wore  it  there  was  visible  on  it  not  only 
threadbare  spots,  but  even  patches.  Some  of  the  ladies  of  our 
circle  talked  to  her  about  it,  and  she  replied:  "Ah,  yes,  it  is 
true  I  must  have  a  new  gown;  I  have  been  frequently  on  my 
way  to  a  dressmaker,  but  every  time  something  more  necessary 
occurred  to  me  and  I  turned  back."  The  old  gown  had  there- 
fore to  do  service  throughout  another  entire  winter.  There 
could  have  been  nothing  more  charming  than  the  zeal  with  which 
in  her  drawing-room  she  sought  to  cheer  the  depressed  and  to 
minister  consolation  and  courage  to  the  downcast,  and  I  still 
see  her,  as  with  her  sparkling  blue  eyes  she  sat  among  us  and 
talked  eloquently  about  the  great  change  that  was  to  take  place 

[392] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
and  the  good  time  which  must  inevitably  soon  come,  and  would 
triumphantly  carry  us  all  back  into  the  fatherland.  And  with 
all  this  she  was  tormented  with  a  disease  of  the  heart  which 
caused  her  sometimes  great  suffering  and  the  foreboding  of  an 
early  death.  One  day,  when  I  accompanied  her  on  a  walk,  she 
suddenly  stood  still  and  clutched  my  arm.  Her  breath  seemed 
to  stop.  I  looked  at  her  in  terror.  She  had  closed  her  eyes  with 
an  expression  of  pain.  At  last  she  opened  her  eyes  again  and 
said:  "  Did  you  hear  my  heart  beat?  I  shall  soon  die.  I  can  live 
hardly  more  than  a  year.  But  do  not  tell  anybody.  I  did  not 
mean  to  speak  of  it,  but  it  has  just  now  escaped  me."  I  tried  to 
quiet  her  apprehensions,  but  in  vain.  "  No,"  she  said,  "  I  know 
it,  but  it  does  not  matter.  Now  let  us  talk  about  something  else." 
Her  presentiment  was  to  come  true  only  too  quickly. 

In  the  circle  of  the  B riming  house  there  were  some  inter- 
esting and  able  men  who  had  already  proved  their  worth  or  were 
destined  to  prove  it  in  later  life.  There  was  Loewe,  who,  shortly 
after  I  had  met  him  in  Switzerland,  had  left  the  Continent  and 
sought  a  secure  asylum  in  England.  There  was  Count  Oscar 
von  Reichenbach  of  Silesia,  a  man  of  much  knowledge  and  a 
thoroughly  noble  nature.  There  was  Oppenheim,  a  writer  of 
uncommon  wit  and  large  acquirements.  There  was  Willich, 
the  socialist  leader,  and  Schimmelpfennig,  two  future  Ameri- 
can generals.  The  good  Strodtmann,  who  had  followed  us  to 
London,  was  frequently  seen  there.  We  also  met  there  birds 
of  passage  of  a  different  kind.  One  day  a  Frenchman  from 
Marseilles,  by  the  name  of  Barthelemi,  was  introduced,  I  do  not 
remember  by  whom,  in  the  Briining  salon  and  pointed  out  as 
a  specially  remarkable  personage.  His  past  had  indeed  been 
remarkable  enough.  Already  before  the  revolution  of  1848  he 
had  taken  part  in  a  secret  conspiracy,  the  so-called  "  Marianne," 
had,  after  being  designated  by  lot,  killed  a  police  officer,  and 

[393] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CAUL  SCHURZ 
had*  been  sentenced  to  a  term  in  the  galleys.  In  consequence 
of  the  revolution  of  1848  he  was  set  free,  then  fought  on  the 
barricades  in  the  socialist  rising  in  Paris,  in  June,  1848 — the 
bloody  "  June  Battle  " — whereupon  he  succeeded  in  escaping 
to  England.  It  was  said  of  him  that  he  had  killed  several  per- 
sons: some  in  duels,  some  without  that  formality.  Now  he 
passed  as  a  "  workingman,"  whose  principal  occupation  was 
that  of  the  professional  conspirator.  He  stands  before  my  eyes 
now  as  he  entered  the  Bruning  salon  and  took  his  seat  near  the 
fireplace:  a  man  of  a  little  more  than  thirty  years,  of  sturdy 
figure,  a  face  of  dusky  paleness  with  black  mustache  and 
goatee,  the  dark  eyes  glowing  with  piercing  fire.  He  spoke  in 
a  deep,  sonorous  voice,  slowly  and  measuredly  with  dogmatic 
assurance,  waving  off  contrary  opinions  with  a  word  of  com- 
passionate disdain.  With  the  greatest  coolness  he  explained  to 
us  his  own  theory  of  the  revolution,  which  simply  provided  that 
the  contrary  minded  without  much  ado  be  exterminated.  The 
man  expressed  himself  with  great  clearness,  like  one  who  had 
thought  much  and  deliberately  upon  his  subject  and  had  drawn 
his  conclusions  by  means  of  the  severest  logic.  We  saw  before 
us,  therefore,  one  of  those  fanatics  that  are  not  seldom  pro- 
duced in  revolutionary  times — men  perhaps  of  considerable 
ability,  whose  understanding  of  the  moral  order  of  the  universe 
has  been  thoroughly  confused  by  his  constant  staring  at  one 
point;  who  has  lost  every  conception  of  abstract  right;  to  whom 
any  crime  appears  permissible,  nay,  as  a  virtuous  act,  if  it  serves 
as  a  means  to  his  end;  who  regards  everybody  standing  in  the 
way  as  outside  of  the  protection  of  the  law;  who  consequently  is 
ever  ready  to  kill  anybody  and  to  sacrifice  also  his  own  life  for 
his  nebulous  objects.  Such  fanatics  are  capable  of  becoming  as 
cruel  as  wild  beasts  and  also  of  dying  like  heroes.  It  was  quite 
natural  that  several  of  those  who  listened  to  Barthelemi  in  the 

[394] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
Briining  salon  felt  uneasy  in  his  company.  Never  was  Bar- 
thelemi seen  there  again.  A  few  years  later,  in  1855,  he  came 
to  a  characteristic  end.  He  had  been  living  constantly  in  Lon- 
don, but  retired  more  and  more  from  his  friends  because,  as 
was  said,  he  lived  with  a  woman  to  whom  he  was  passionately 
attached.  It  was  reported  also  that  he  was  acquainted  with  a 
wealthy  Englishman  whom  he  often  visited.  One  day  he  called 
at  the  house  of  that  Englishman  with  the  woman  mentioned. 
He  carried  a  traveling  satchel  in  his  hand,  like  one  who  was  on 
his  way  to  a  railroad  station.  Suddenly  the  report  of  a  pistol  shot 
was  heard  in  the  apartment  of  the  Englishman,  and  Barthelemi, 
pursued  by  the  cries  of  a  woman  servant,  ran  out  of  the  house 
with  his  mistress.  The  Englishman  was  found  dead  in  a  pool 
of  blood  in  his  room.  A  police  officer  who  tried  to  stop  Bar- 
thelemi on  the  street  also  fell  mortally  wounded  by  Barthelemi's 
pistol.  A  crowd  rapidly  gathering  stopped  the  murderer,  dis- 
armed him  and  delivered  him  to  the  authorities.  The  woman 
escaped  in  the  confusion  and  was  never  seen  again.  All  at- 
tempts to  make  Barthelemi  disclose  his  curious  relations  with 
the  murdered  Englishman  were  vain.  He  wrapped  himself  in 
the  deepest  silence,  and,  so  far  as  I  know,  the  mysterious  story 
has  never  been  cleared  up.  There  was  only  a  rumor  that  Bar- 
thelemi had  intended  to  go  to  Paris  and  kill  Louis  Napoleon, 
that  the  Englishman  had  promised  him  the  necessary  money, 
but  had  refused  it  at  the  decisive  moment,  and  that  at  their  last 
meeting  Barthelemi  had  shot  him,  either  in  order  to  get  posses- 
sion of  the  money  or  in  a  rage  at  the  refusal.  Another  rumor 
had  it  that  the  woman  was  only  a  spy  of  the  French  govern- 
ment, sent  to  London  with  instructions  to  watch  Barthelemi 
and  finally  to  betray  him.  Barthelemi  was  tried  for  murder  in 
the  first  degree,  sentenced  to  death,  and  hanged.  He  met  death 
with  the  greatest  composure,  and  exclaimed,  in  the  face  of  the 

[395] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
gallows,  "  In  a  few  moments,  now,  I  shall  see  the  great  mys- 
tery! "  and  then  died  with  calm  dignity. 

My  dear  old  friend,  Fraulein  Malwida  von  Meysenbug, 
has  told  the  story  with  great  warmth  in  her  remarkable  book, 
"  The  Memoirs  of  an  Idealist."  The  reader  will  find  there 
a  very  striking  example  of  the  impression  which  a  personality 
like  Barthelemi's,  whatever  the  cool  judgment  of  the  under- 
standing and  the  voice  of  justice  about  him  may  be,  could  make 
upon  the  soul  of  a  woman  of  a  superior  mind  and  of  a  suscep- 
tible imagination.  The  execution  of  Barthelemi  revolted  her 
feelings  and  moved  her  to  tears,  but  nothing  could  be  more  cer- 
tain than  that  if  a  pardon  had  liberated  him  his  insane  fanati- 
cism which  made  him  speak  of  a  murder  as  of  a  breakfast  would 
have  led  him  to  other  bloody  deeds,  and  would  finally  again 
have  placed  him  in  the  hands  of  the  hangman. 

Malwida  von  Meysenbug  was  one  of  my  most  valued 
friends  in  the  Briining  circle.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Herr 
von  Meysenbug,  a  minister  of  the  Elector  of  Hesse-Cassel, 
who,  probably  unjustly,  had  been  regarded  as  a  stiff  aristocrat 
and  absolutist.  After  long  inward  struggles,  in  which  a  pro- 
found attachment  to  a  young  democrat,  the  brother  of  my 
friend,  Friedrich  Althaus,  played  an  important  part,  Malwida 
openly  declared  herself  an  adherent  of  democratic  principles; 
found  it  impossible  to  remain  longer  with  her  family;  went  in 
the  year  1849-50  to  Hamburg  to  co-operate  with  some  kindred 
spirits  of  liberal  sentiments  in  founding  a  high  school  for 
young  women;  came  into  some  conflict  with  the  police  through 
her  acquaintance  and  correspondence  with  democrats,  and,  espe- 
cially attracted  by  the  Kinkels,  landed  in  London  in  our  circle. 
She  has  herself  described  her  development  and  the  vicissitudes 
of  her  life  with  characteristic  frankness  and  in  an  exceedingly 
interesting    fashion   in   the   book    already   mentioned — "  The 

[396] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
Memoirs  of  an  Idealist."  When  we  met  in  London  she  may 
have  been  about  thirty-five,  but  she  looked  older  than  she  really 
was.  In  point  of  appearance,  she  had  not  been  favored  by 
nature,  but  her  friends  soon  became  accustomed  to  overlook 
that  disadvantage  in  the  appreciation  of  her  higher  qualities. 
She  had  read  much  and  had  many  opinions,  which  she  main- 
tained with  great  energy.  With  the  most  zealous  interest  she 
followed  the  events  of  the  time  on  the  political  as  well  as  on  the 
literary,  scientific  and  artistic  field.  She  was  animated  by  an 
almost  vehement  and  truly  eloquent  enthusiasm  for  all  that 
appeared  to  her  good  and  noble  and  beautiful.  She  felt  the 
impulse,  wherever  possible,  to  lend  a  hand,  and  pursued  her 
endeavors  with  a  zeal  and  an  earnestness  which  made  her  occa- 
sionally a  severe  judge  of  what  seemed  to  her  a  light-minded 
or  frivolous  treatment  of  important  things.  Her  whole  being 
was  so  honest,  simple  and  unpretending,  the  goodness  of  her 
heart  so  inexhaustible,  her  sympathies  so  real  and  self-sacri- 
ficing, her  principles  so  genuine  and  faithful,  that  everybody 
who  learned  to  know  her  well  readily  forgave  her  that  trait  of 
imaginative  eccentricity  which  appeared  sometimes  in  her  views 
and  enthusiasms,  but  which  really  was  to  be  attributed  to  the 
excitability  of  her  temperament  and  the  innate  kindness  and 
nobility  of  her  heart.  The  tone  of  conversation  in  the  Briining 
salon  did  not  always  please  her.  When  she  carried  on  serious 
discourse  with  a  member  of  our  circle  about  important  subjects 
the  lighthearted  merriment  of  others  was  apt  to  jar  upon  her. 
The  Baroness  herself  could  not  follow  her  much  in  the  grave 
treatment  which  Malwida  bestowed  upon  all  questions  of  conse- 
quence, but  their  personal  sympathies  still  held  them  together. 
The  books  written  by  Malwida  von  Meysenbug,  long  after 
the  time  of  which  I  speak,  reveal  a  human  soul  of  the  finest 
instincts  and  impulses,  and,  in  spite  of  many  disappointments, 

[397] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
of  touching  faithfulness  to  high  principles  and  aspirations. 
One  of  them,  the  "  Memoirs  of  an  Idealist,"  owed  to  its  exquis- 
ite charms  of  noble  sentiment  and  genuine  sincerity  the  rare 
good  fortune  of  reappearing  in  literature  after  a  long  period  of 
seeming  oblivion.  She  lived  to  a  high  old  age,  the  last  thirty 
years  in  Rome,  as  the  center  of  a  large  circle  of  friends,  many 
of  them  distinguished  characters,  who  clung  to  her  inspiring 
personality  with  singular  affection.  We  remained  warm  friends 
to  the  end. 

Now  to  return  to  my  narrative — an  event  occurred  which 
essentially  darkened  the  horizon  of  refugeedom,  and  which 
also  gave  to  my  fate  an  unexpected  and  decisive  turn. 

The  reports  which  we  had  received  from  our  friends  in 
Paris  made  us  believe  that  Louis  Napoleon,  the  president  of 
the  French  republic,  was  an  object  of  general  contempt,  that 
he  played  a  really  ridiculous  figure  with  his  manifest  ambition 
to  restore  the  empire  in  France  and  to  mount  the  throne,  and 
that  every  attempt  to  accomplish  this  by  force  would  inevitably 
result  in  his  downfall  and  in  the  institution  of  a  strong  and 
truly  republican  government.  The  tone  of  the  opposition  pa- 
pers in  Paris  gave  much  color  to  this  view.  Suddenly,  on  the 
2d  of  December,  1851,  the  news  arrived  in  London  that 
Louis  Napoleon  had  actually  undertaken  the  long-expected 
coup  d'etat.  He  had  secured  the  support  of  the  army,  had  occu- 
pied the  meeting-place  of  the  national  assembly  with  troops, 
had  arrested  the  leaders  of  the  opposition,  as  well  as  General 
Changarnier,  who  had  been  intrusted  by  the  national  assem- 
bly with  its  protection,  had  laid  his  hand  upon  several  other 
generals  suspected  of  republican  sentiments,  had  published  a 
decree  restoring  universal  suffrage,  which  had  been  restricted 
by  the  national  assembly,  and  issued  a  proclamation  to  the 
French  people.  In  this  he  accused  the  parliamentary  parties  of 

[398] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
criminal  selfishness  and  demanded  the  establishment  of  a  con- 
sulate, the  consul  to  hold  office  for  ten  years.  Exciting  reports 
arrived  in  rapid  succession.  Members  of  the  national  assem- 
bly had  met  in  considerable  numbers  and  tried  to  organize  re- 
sistance to  the  coup  d'etat,  but  were  soon  dispersed  by  military 
force.  At  last  the  news  came  that  the  people,  too,  were  begin- 
ning to  "  descend  into  the  streets  "  and  to  build  barricades. 
Now  the  decisive  battle  was  to  be  fought. 

It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  state  of  mind  produced 
among  the  exiles  by  these  reports.  We  Germans  ran  to  the 
meeting-places  of  the  French  clubs,  because  we  expected  to 
receive  there  the  clearest  and  most  reliable  tidings,  perhaps  from 
sources  which  might  not  be  open  to  the  general  public.  In  these 
clubs  we  found  a  feverish  excitement  bordering  upon  mad- 
ness. Our  French  friends  shouted  and  shrieked  and  gestic- 
ulated and  hurled  opprobrious  names  at  Louis  Napoleon  and 
cursed  his  helpers,  and  danced  the  Carmagnole  and  sang  "  Ca 
Ira."  All  were  sure  of  a  victory  of  the  people.  The  most  glorious 
bulletins  of  the  progress  of  the  street  fight  went  from  mouth 
to  mouth.  Some  of  them  were  proclaimed  by  wild-looking 
revolutionary  exiles,  who  had  jumped  upon  tables,  and  frantic 
screams  of  applause  welcomed  them.  So  it  went  on  a  night,  a 
day  and  again  a  night.  Sleep  was  out  of  the  question.  There 
was  hardly  time  for  the  necessary  meals.  The  reports  of  victory 
were  followed  by  others  that  sounded  less  favorable.  They  could 
not  and  would  not  be  believed.  They  were  "  the  dispatches  of  the 
usurper  and  his  slaves  " ;  "  they  lied  " ;  "  they  could  not  do  other- 
wise than  lie  " ;  but  the  messages  continued  more  and  more 
gloomy.  The  barricades  which  the  people  had  erected  in  the 
night  of  the  2d  and  3d  of  December  had  been  taken  by  the  army 
without  much  trouble.  On  the  4th  a  serious  battle  occurred  on 
the  streets  of  the  Faubourgs  St.  Martin  and  St.  Denis,  but 

[399] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
there,  too,  the  troops  had  remained  masters  of  the  field.  Then 
the  soldiery  rushed  into  the  houses  and  murdered  without  dis- 
crimination or  compassion.  At  last  there  was  the  quiet  of  the 
graveyard  in  the  great  city.  The  popular  rising  had  been  com- 
paratively insignificant  and  powerless.  The  usurper  who  had 
but  recently  been  represented  as  a  weak-minded  adventurer,  the 
mere  "  nephew  of  his  uncle,"  had  succeeded  in  subjugating 
Paris.  The  departments  did  not  move;  there  was  no  doubt  the 
Republic  was  at  an  end,  and  with  its  downfall  vanished  also 
the  prospect  of  the  new  revolutionary  upheaval,  which,  on  the 
impulse  coming  from  France,  was  expected  to  spread  over  the 
whole  European  continent. 

Stunned  by  all  these  terrible  reports,  and  mentally  as  well 
as  physically  exhausted,  we  quietly  returned  to  our  quarters. 
After  I  had  recuperated  from  this  consuming  excitement  by  a 
long  sleep  I  tried  to  become  clear  in  my  mind  about  the  changed 
situation  of  things.  It  was  a  foggy  day,  and  I  went  out  be- 
cause I  found  it  impossible  to  sit  still  within  my  four  walls. 
Absorbed  in  thought,  I  wandered  on  without  any  definite 
aim,  and  found  myself  at  last  in  Hyde  Park,  where,  in 
spite  of  the  chilly  air,  I  sat  down  on  a  bench.  In  whatever 
light  I  might  consider  the  downfall  of  the  republic  and  the 
advent  of  a  new  monarchy  in  France,  one  thing  seemed  to  me 
certain:  All  the  efforts  connected  with  the  revolution  of  1848 
were  now  hopeless;  a  period  of  decided  and  general  reaction 
was  bound  to  come,  and  whatever  the  future  might  bring  of 
further  developments  in  the  direction  of  liberal  movement 
must  necessarily  have  a  new  starting-point. 

With  this  conviction  my  own  situation  became  equally 
clear  to  me.  It  would  have  been  childish  to  give  myself  up  to 
further  illusory  hopes  of  a  speedy  return  to  the  Fatherland.  To 
continue  our  plottings  and  thereby  bring  still  more  mischief 

[  400  ] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
upon  others,  appeared  to  me  a  reckless  and  wicked  game.  I 
had  long  recognized  the  exile's  life  to  be  empty  and  enervating. 
I  felt  an  irresistible  impulse  not  only  to  find  for  myself  a  well- 
regulated  activity,  but  also  to  do  something  really  and  truly 
valuable  for  the  general  good.  But  where,  and  how?  The 
fatherland  was  closed  to  me.  England  was  to  me  a  foreign 
country,  and  would  always  remain  so.  Where,  then?  "  To 
America,"  I  said  to  myself.  "  The  ideals  of  which  I  have 
dreamed  and  for  which  I  have  fought  I  shall  find  there,  if 
not  fully  realized,  but  hopefully  struggling  for  full  realization. 
In  that  struggle  I  shall  perhaps  be  able  to  take  some  part.  It 
is  a  new  world,  a  free  world,  a  world  of  great  ideas  and  aims. 
In  that  world  there  is  perhaps  for  me  a  new  home.  Ubi  libertas 
ibi  patria — I  formed  my  resolution  on  the  spot.  I  would  remain 
only  a  short  time  longer  in  England  to  make  some  necessary 
preparations,  and  then — off  to  America! 

I  had  sat  perhaps  half  an  hour  on  that  bench  in  Hyde  Park, 
immersed  in  my  thoughts,  when  I  noticed  that  on  the  other 
end  of  the  bench  a  man  was  sitting  who  seemed  likewise  to  be 
musingly  staring  at  the  ground.  He  was  a  little  man,  and  as  I 
observed  him  more  closely  I  believed  I  recognized  him.  Indeed, 
I  did.  It  was  Louis  Blanc,  the  French  socialist  leader,  a  former 
member  of  the  provisional  government  of  France.  I  had  re- 
cently in  some  social  gathering  been  introduced  to  him,  and  he 
had  talked  with  me  in  a  very  amiable  and  animated  way.  In- 
deed, I  had  found  him  uncommonly  attractive.  When  I  was 
through  with  my  own  thoughts  I  arose  to  go  away  without 
intending  to  disturb  him,  but  he  lifted  his  head,  looked  at  me 
with  eyes  that  seemed  not  to  have  known  sleep  for  several 
nights,  and  said,  "Ah,  c'est  vous,  mon  jeune  ami!  c'est  fini, 
n'est  ce  pas?  C'est  fini! "  We  pressed  one  another's  hands.  His 
head  sank  again  upon  his  breast,  and  I  went  my  way  home  to 

[401] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
inform  my  parents  at  once,  by  letter,  of  the  resolution  I  had 
taken  on  that  bench  in  Hyde  Park.  Some  of  my  fellow-exiles 
tried  to  dissuade  me  from  it,  picturing  to  me  all  sorts  of  won- 
derful things  which  would  happen  very  soon  on  the  European 
continent  and  in  which  we  refugees  must  take  an  active  part; 
but  I  had  seen  too  thoroughly  through  the  unreality  of  these 
fantastic  imaginings  to  be  shaken  in  my  resolve. 

Now  something  happened  that  infused  into  my  appar- 
ently gloomy  situation  a  radiance  of  sunshine  and  opened  to 
my  life  unlooked-for  prospects.  A  few  weeks  previous  to  Louis 
Napoleon's  coup  d'etat  I  had  some  business  to  transact  with 
another  German  exile,  and  visited  him  in  his  residence  in  Hamp- 
stead.  I  vividly  remember  how  I  went  there  on  foot,  through 
rows  of  hedges  and  avenues  of  trees,  where  now,  probably,  is 
a  dense  mass  of  houses,  not  anticipating  that  a  meeting  of  far , 
greater  importance  than  that  with  him  was  in  store  for  me.  My 
business  was  soon  disposed  of  and  I  rose  to  go,  but  my  friend 
stopped  me  and  called  out  into  an  adjacent  room,  "  Margare- 
tha,  come  in,  if  you  please,  here  is  a  gentleman  with  whom  I 
wish  you  to  become  acquainted.  This  is  my  sister-in-law,"  he 
added,  turning  to  me,  "  just  arrived  from  Hamburg  on  a  visit." 
A  girl  of  about  eighteen  years  entered,  of  fine  stature,  a  curly 
head,  something  childlike  in  her  beautiful  features  and  large, 
dark,  truthful  eyes.  This  was  my  introduction  to  my  future 
wife. 

On  the  6th  of  July,  1852,  we  were  married  in  the  parish 
church  of  Marylebone  in  London.  I  have  put  down  in  writing 
how  it  all  came  to  pass  in  those  otherwise  gloomy  days ;  but  that 
part  of  my  story  naturally  belongs  to  my  children  only  and 
to  our  inner  home  circle. 

In  August  we  were  ready  to  sail  for  America.  Before  my 
departure  Mazzini  invited  me  to  visit  him  once  more.  He  con- 

[  402  ] 


."'•' — "-""■ — *"■- ■■- — 


CARL    SCHURZ    AND    HIS    WIFE 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
fided  to  me  the  secret  of  a  revolutionary  enterprise  which  he 
had  in  hand  and  which,  as  he  said,  promised  great  results. 
There  was  to  be  a  new  uprising  in  Lombardy.  With  his  glowing  ' 
eloquence  he  pictured  to  me  how  the  Italian  soldiers  of  liberty 
would  crowd  the  Austrians  into  the  Alps,  and  how  then  similar 
movements  would  spring  from  this  victorious  insurrection  in  all 
other  countries  of  the  European  Continent,  and  that  then  such 
young  men  as  I  should  be  on  the  spot  to  help  carry  on  the 
work  so  prosperously  begun.  "  All  this  will  happen,"  he  said, 
"  before  you  will  reach  America,  or  shortly  after.  How  you 
will  wish  not  to  have  left  us!  You  will  take  the  next  ship  to 
return  to  Europe.  Save  yourself  this  unnecessary  voyage."  I 
had  to  confess  to  him  that  my  hopes  were  not  so  sanguine  as 
his ;  that  I  did  not  see  in  the  condition  of  things  on  the  Continent 
any  prospect  of  a  change  soon  to  come,  which  might  call  me 
back  to  the  Fatherland  and  to  a  fruitful  activity ;  that,  if  in  the 
remote  future  such  changes  should  come  they  would  shape 
themselves  in  ways  different  from  those  that  we  now  imagined, 
and  that  then  there  would  be  other  people  to  carry  them 
through.  Mazzini  shook  his  head,  but  he  saw  that  he  could 
not  persuade  me.  Thus  we  parted,  and  I  never  saw  him 
again. 

A  short  time  after  my  arrival  in  America  I  did  indeed  hear 
of  the  outbreak  of  the  revolutionary  enterprise  which  Mazzini 
had  predicted  to  me.  It  consisted  of  an  insurrectionary  attempt 
in  Milan,  which  was  easily  suppressed  by  the  Austrian  troops 
and  resulted  only  in  the  imprisonment  of  a  number  of  Italian 
patriots.  And  Mazzini's  cause,  the  unity  of  Italy  under  a  free 
government,  seemed  then  to  be  more  hopeless  than  ever. 

Kossuth  returned  from  America  a  sorely  disappointed 
man.  He  had  been  greeted  by  the  American  people  with  un- 
bounded enthusiasm.  Countless  multitudes  had  listened  to  his 

[  403] 


THE  REMINISCENCES  OF  CARL  SCHURZ 
enchanting  eloquence  and  overwhelmed  him  with  sympathy  and 
admiration.  The  President  of  the  United  States  had  reveren- 
tially pressed  his  hand  and  Congress  had  received  him  with 
extraordinary  honors.  There  had  been  no  end  of  parades  and 
receptions  and  festive  banquets.  But  the  government  of  the 
United  States,  with  the  approval  of  the  American  people, 
steadfastly  maintained  the  traditional  policy  of  non-interfer- 
ence in  European  affairs.  Kossuth's  appeal  for  "  substantial 
aid  "  to  his  country  in  its  struggle  for  independence  had  been 
in  vain.  When  he  returned  to  England  he  found  that  the  popu- 
lar enthusiasm  there,  which  had  greeted  him  but  a  few  months 
before,  was  burned  out.  He  still  tried  to  continue  the  advocacy 
of  his  cause  by  delivering  addresses  in  various  English  cities, 
and  was  listened  to  with  the  most  respectful  and  sympathetic 
attention  as  a  very  distinguished  lecturer.  When  he  appeared 
on  the  streets  he  was  no  longer  cheered  by  multitudes  surging 
around  him.  Persons  recognizing  him  would  take  off  their  hats 
and  whisper  to  one  another:  "  There  goes  Kossuth,  the  great 
Hungarian  patriot."  His  cause,  the  independence  of  his  coun- 
try, seemed  to  be  dead  and  buried. 

Mazzini  and  Kossuth — how  strangely  fate  played  with 
those  two  men!  Mazzini  had  all  his  life  plotted,  and  struggled, 
and  suffered  for  the  unification  of  Italy  under  a  free  national 
government.  Not  many  years  after  the  period  of  which  I 
speak  the  national  unity  of  Italy  did  indeed  come,  first  partially 
aided  by  the  man  Mazzini  hated  most,  the  French  Emperor 
Louis  Napoleon,  and  then  greatly  advanced  by  the  marvelous 
campaign  of  Garibaldi,  which  is  said  to  have  been  originally 
planned  by  Mazzini  himself,  and  which  reads  in  history  like  a 
romantic  adventure  of  the  time  of  the  Crusades.  Finally  the 
unification  of  Italy  was  fully  achieved  under  the  auspices  of 
the  dynasty  of  Savoy;  and  Mazzini  the  republican  at  last  died 

[  404  ] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
in  an  obscure  corner  in  unified  Italy,  where  he  had  hidden  him- 
self under  a  false  name,  an  exile  in  his  own  country. 

Kossuth  had  agitated  with  his  wonderful  eloquence  and 
then  conducted  a  brilliant  though  unfortunate  war  for  the  na- 
tional independence  of  Hungary.  A  defeated  man,  he  went 
into  exile.  In  the  course  of  time,  much  of  the  political  auton- 
omy, of  the  substantial  independence  of  Hungary  as  a  self- 
governing  country,  was  accomplished  by  peaceable  means,  and 
the  Hungarian  people  seemed  for  a  while  to  be  contented  with 
it.  But  it  was  accomplished  under  the  kingship  of  the  house  of 
Hapsburg ;  and  Kossuth,  who  never  would  bow  his  head  to  the 
Hapsburg,  inflexibly  resisted  every  invitation  of  his  people 
calling  him  back  to  his  country  whose  legendary  national  hero 
he  had  not  ceased  to  be ;  and  he  finally  died  as  a  voluntary  exile 
at  Turin,  a  very  old  and  lonely  man. 

A  large  part  of  what  those  two  men  had  striven  for  was 
at  last  won — but  it  then  appeared  in  a  form  in  which  they 
would  not  recognize  it  as  their  own. 

The  German  revolutionists  of  1848  met  a  similar  fate. 
They  fought  for  German  unity  and  free  government  and  were 
defeated  mainly  by  Prussian  bayonets.  Then  came  years  of 
stupid  political  reaction  and  national  humiliation,  in  which  all 
that  the  men  of  1848  had  stood  for  seemed  utterly  lost.  Then 
a  change.  Frederick  William  IV.,  who  more  than  any  man 
of  his  time  had  cherished  a  mystic  belief  in  the  special  divine 
inspiration  of  kings — Frederick  William  IV.  fell  insane  and 
had  to  drop  the  reins  of  government.  The  Prince  of  Prussia, 
whom  the  revolutionists  of  1848  had  regarded  as  the  bitterest 
and  most  uncompromising  enemy  of  their  cause,  followed  him, 
first  as  regent  and  then  as  king — destined  to  become  the  first 
emperor  of  the  new  German  Empire.  He  called  Bismarck  to 
his  side  as  prime  minister — Bismarck,  who  originally  had  been 

[405] 


THE    REMINISCENCES    OF    CARL    SCHURZ 
the  sternest  spokesman  of  absolutism  and  the  most  ardent  foe 
of  the  revolution.  And  then  German  unity,  with  a  national 
parliament,  was  won,  not  through  a  revolutionary  uprising,  but 
through  monarchical  action  and  foreign  wars. 

Thus,  if  not  all,  yet  a  great  and  important  part  of  the  ob- 
jects struggled  for  by  the  German  revolutionists  of  1848  was 
after  all  accomplished — much  later,  indeed,  and  less  peaceably 
and  less  completely  than  they  had  wished,  and  through  the  in- 
strumentality of  persons  and  forces  originally  hostile  to  them, 
but  producing  new  conditions  which  promise  to  develop  for  the 
united  Germany  political  forms  and  institutions  of  govern- 
ment much  nearer  to  the  ideals  of  1848  than  those  now  existing. 
And  many  thoughtful  men  now  frequently  ask  the  question — 
and  a  very  pertinent  question  it  is — whether  all  these  things 
would  have  been  possible  had  not  the  great  national  awakening 
of  the  year  1848  prepared  the  way  for  them. 

But  in  the  summer  of  1852  the  future  lay  before  us  in  a 
gloomy  cloud.  In  France,  Louis  Napoleon  seemed  firmly 
seated  on  the  neck  of  his  submissive  people.  The  British  gov- 
ernment under  Lord  Palmerston  had  shaken  hands  with  him. 
All  over  the  European  Continent  the  reaction  from  the  liberal 
movements  of  the  past  four  years  celebrated  triumphant 
orgies.  How  long  it  would  prove  irresistible  nobody  could  tell. 
That  some  of  its  very  champions  would  themselves  become  the 
leaders  of  the  national  spirit  in  Germany  even  the  most  san- 
guine would  in  1851  not  have  ventured  to  anticipate. 

My  young  wife  and  myself  sailed  from  Portsmouth  in 
August,  1852,  and  landed  in  the  harbor  of  New  York  on  a 
bright  September  morning.  With  the  buoyant  hopefulness  of 
young  hearts,  we  saluted  the  new  world. 

END   OF  VOLUME   I 
[406  ] 

^         OF  THE 


T 


r>o 


U.C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


CD3fl^inmO 


